Slave narratives, a folk history of slavery in the United States from interviews with former slaves. Oklahoma Narratives, Volume XIII: a machine-readable transcription.

Isaac Adams. Age 87 yrs. Tulsa, Okla. 005 001

-~ 350022 . Oklahoma Writ rs ?~ oject ~.S1aves ~ I ~ 18MO ADiM5 .L Age 8?yrs. ~ Tulsa, Olcia. I was born in Louisiana, way before the War. I thii it was about ten years ~ before because I can remember eveiything so well about the start of the War, and~ I believe I was about ten yeare old. . )~fy )Eanin~r belonged. to Mr. Sack P. Gee, I jon~ t know what his real given naine was, ~mt it maybe was Saxon. ~Anywaye we all called him Master Sack. ~ He was a kind. of youngish man, and. was mighty rich. I think he was born in EUg1aIU~. Anyway his pappy was from England, and. I think he went back before I was born. Master Sack had. a big plantation ten miles north of Arcadia, Louisiana, and. his 1amd~ run ten miles along both sides. He would. leave in a buggy ath begonealldsyandstillnotgetalloverit. . There was all kind.s of lath o it, aM he raised cane an& oats and. ~eat ath 10 te of corn and. co tton. His CO tton fi elds was the biggest aaywheres in that part, and. when chopping ath pic cirig times come he woul& get negro es from other people to help out. I never was no good. at picking, but I was a terror with a hoe! I wa~ the only child my Mammy had.. She was just a young girl, aM my Master d~id~ not own her very long. He got her from Mr. ~Add.ison Hilliard., where my pappy belonge&. I think she was going to have me when he got her; anyways I come along pretty soon and. my mammy never was very ws)~1 afterwants. Maybe Master ~Sack. sent her back over to my pappy. I dontt know. ~ Mammy was the house girl at Mr. Sack s because she wasn1 t very strong, an& when I was four or five years old. she 3.ie&. I was big enough to &o littl . things foi Mr. Sack and. hie i~aughter, so they kept me at the mansIon, and. I ~ helped. the house boys, Time I was nine or ten Mr. Sa& s daughter was gett1~n : ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ .:~ ~ ~ - ~ :~ ~ .~ ~ ~

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Oklahoma Writerst 1 roject . ;. . to be a young woman fifteen o r sixteen years old ~ . ant i~iat was old. enough to get married off in them days. Th~y had. a lot of company just before the War, aM they had. a ~thole bunch of house negroes arounil all the time, Old. Mistress di ed. when I was a baby, so I don ~ t remember anything about her, but Young Mistress was a wind.er! She would ri&e horseback nearly all the and I had. to go along wi th her when I go t big eno~gh. She never did go around the quarters, so I don~t.know nothing much about the negroes Mr. Sack had. for the fields. They all looked. pretty clean aM healthy, though, when they iould corne up to the ~ig Rouse. He fed. them all good. and. they aU liked. hirn. He had. so much different kind.s of land. that they co~l& raise anything they wanted, and he had more mules and. horses and. cattle than anybody aro und. there. Some of the boys ~mrked. with his fillies all the time, and. he went off to New On eans ever, once in a while wi th hi s race horses. He took hi e daughter but they never took me. Some of his land. was in pasture but most of it was all open fields, with just miles and miles of cotton rows. There was a pretty good. strip along one side he called. the old fields. That1s what they Called the land. tha t was wore out and turned back. I t was al 1 growed. i~p in young trees, and~ that~ s where he kept his horses most of the time. The first I icnowed. about the War coming on was when Mr. Sack had a ihole bunch of whitefoiks at the Big House at a timction, They didntt talk about anything else all evening and. then the next time they come nearly all their menfoiks waen~t there ~ just the womenfolke. It wa&t very long till Mr. Sack went off to Bouma with some other men, and. pretty soon we knew he was in the War. I &ont remember ever seeing him come

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OKlahoma Writers1 Project 3 ~. 3 home. I d.ontt think he did. *Imtil it was nearly all over. Next thing we knowed they was Confederate soldiers riding by pretty nearly every day in big th oveB. Sometimes they wotiJ come and. Irny corn ami wheat and hogs but they never did. take any anyhow I Ike the Yankees done later on. They would pay with billets, Young Missy called them, and. she didntt send. them to git them cashed but saved them a long time, and then she got them cashed, but you ooul&n1 t buy anything with the money she got for them. ~ That Oonf ed,erate money she got wasn~t no good. I was in Ai ce4ia with her at s~ store, and she had. to pay seventy five cents for a can of sardines for me to eat with some bread I had, and before the War you could get a can like that for two cents. Things was even higher then than later on, but that s the only time I saw her buy anything. When the Yankee s go t down In that count ry the mo at of the big men paid. for ai . the co ru and. meat and. things they go t but so me of the li ttl e bunches of them w~uld ride up and. take hogs and. things like that and. just ride off. They wa& t anybody at our place but the womenfoiks and. the negroes. Some of Mr, Sack! g women kinfo lice stayed. there wi th Toun~ Mi stress. Along at the last the negroes on our ~ place &tdII t put In much stuff jest WbiLt they would need, and could hide from the Yankees, because they would get it all took away from them if the Yankees found out they ha~i plenty oi~1corn and. oats. The Tai ees was mighty nice about their manners, though. They camped. all around our place for a while. There ~ three camps of them close by at one time, but they never did come and. use any of our houses or cabins. There was lots of poor whites and. Cajuns timt lived. down below us, between us ami the Gulf, and. the Tankees just moved into their houBes and. cabins ami used them to camp in.

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Oklahoma Writers1 Project 4 ..44 . The negroes at our place and. all of them around there tUc1D~ t try to get away or leave when the Yankees come In. They wasntt no place to go, anyway, so they all stayed on. But they di.dn ~ t do very much wo rk. Just enough to take care of themselves and. their whltefo .ks. Master Sack come home before the War was quite over. I think he had. been sick, because he looked thin and. old. and. worried. All the negroee picked up and v~o rked. mighty hard after he come home, too. ~ One day he went into Arcadia and come home and. told. us the War was over a,n~ we was all free. The negroes did.ntt cnowwhat to make~f it, and. &td.ntt know where to go, sohe told. all that wanted to stay on that they could just go on like they had. been and. pay him shares. About half of hie negroes stayed on, and he marked. off land for them to farm and. mad.e arrangements with them to let them use their cabins, and. let them have mules and. tools. They paid him out of their shares, and. some of them finally bought the mules and. some of the land. But about half went on off and, tried. to do better somewheres else. I d.idntt stay with him because I was jest a boy az4 he d.id.fltt need. . me at the h~uae anyway. ~ ~ Late in the War my Pappy belonged to a man named. Sander or Zander. Might been Alexander, but the negroes called him Mr. Sander. When pappy got free he come and asked. me to go with him, and. I went along 8th lived with him. He had. a share-cropper deal wi th Mr. Sand.er and. I helped. him work his patch. That place was just a little east of Howna, a few miles. Then my Pappy was born hi s parents belonged. to a Mr. M.aTns so he took Ad.a!Ds for hie last naine, and. I did. too, because I was his son. I din1t know where Mr. Adams lived.., bu.t I don1 t think my P~py ias born in Louisiana. Alabama, niaybe. I think his parents come off the boat, because he was very black -~ even blacker than I am.

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Oklai~Om~, !riters Project _ 5 I lived there with m~r Pappy until I was about eighteen and then I married and moved around all over Louisiana from time to time, My wife give me t~velve boys and five girls, but all my children are dead now but five. My wife died in 1920 and. I come up here to Tulsa to live. ne of my daughters takes care and. looks out for me now. I seen the old. Sack P. Gee place about twenty years ago, and. it was all cut up in little places and all rtm down, Never would have known it was one time a lig plantation ten miles long. ~ I seen places going to rack aM ruin all around -~ all th~places I lived at in Louisiana b~it I~m glad I wasn1 t there to see Master SaCks ~ place go &own. He wa~ a good m and. done right by all his negroes. Yes, Lord, my ld feets have been in mighty nigh every parish in LouisIana, and. I seen some mighty pretty places, but I~ll never forget how that old. Gee plantation looked when I was a boy. 5

Phoebe Banks. Age 78. Muskogee,oklahoma 012 008

:3~3o()75 . Oklahoma Writerst Project ~x-. S1aves 1O-.19 1938 ~ 1,428 words PHOEBE BANKS Age 78 ~uskogee Oklahoma. In 1860, there was a little Creek Indian town of Sodom on the north bank of the Arkansas River, in a section the Indians called Chocka Bottoms, where Mose ?err~pnan had a Ug farm or ranch for a long time before the Oivil War. That same year, on October 17, I was born on the Perryman place, which was north~est of where I live~now in Muskogee; only in them days Fort Gibson and Okmulgee was the big-S gest towns around and Muskogee hEdn~ t shaped up yet. My mother belonged to Mose Perryman when i: ~ born; he was one of the best known Creeks In the whole nation, and one of his younger brothers, Legus Perryman, was made the big chief of the Creeks (1887) a long time after the slaves was freed. Mother s name was Eldee; my father~s name was William McIntosh, because he belonged to a Creek Indian family by that naine. Everybody say the Mclntoshes was leaders in the Creek doings away back there in Alabama long before they come out here. With me, there was twelve children in our famii~ ; Daniel, Stroy, Scott, Segal, Neil, Joe, Phillip, Mollie, Harriett, Sally and Qaeenie. The Perryinan slave cabins was all alike - ~ just two- room log cabins, with a fireplace where mother do the cooking for us children at night after she get through wo rking iii the Mas s house. Mother was the house girl ~ ~ ~ cooking, waiting on the table, cleaning the house, spinning the yarn, knitting some of the winter clothes, taking care of the mistress girl, washing the clothes ~ ~ yes, she was always busy and worked mighty hard all the time, while thee Indians woul&nt t hardly do nothing for themselves. On the McIntosh plantation, my daddy said. there was a big number of slaves

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Oklahoma Wri ters1 Proj ect Phoebe Bar~ks -.2- and lots of slave children. The slave men work in the fields, chc~ping cotton, raising corn, cutting rails for the fences, building log cabins and. fireolaces, One time when father was cutting down a tree it fell on him and after that he was only strong enough to rub down the horses and. do light work around the yard. He ~ot to be a good horse trainer and. long time after slavery he heloed to train horses for-the Pree Fairs around the country, and I suppose the first money he ever earned ~vias made that way. Lots of the slave owners didntt want their slaves to learn read~ng and writ-. flE, but the Perryrnans didn t care; they even helped the younger slaves with that stuff. Mother said. her master didn t care much what the slaves do; he was so lazy he didntt care for nothing. They tell me about the /ar times, and that ~ s all, I remember of i t. Before the War is over some of the Perr~inan slaves and. some from the McIntosh place fix up to r~n away from their masters. My father and my uncle, Jacob Perryman, was some of the fixers. Some of the Creek Indians had already lost a few~ slaves who slip off to the North, and they take what was left dowr into Texas sois they couldntt get away. Some of the other Creeks was friendly to the 1~orth and was fixing to get away up there; that~s the ones my daddy and ~incle was fixing to join, for they was afraid their masters would take up ~id move to Texas befor e they could ge t away. . They call the old. Creek, Who was l~aving for the North, tiOld Gouge (Oooetiileyohola), All our family join up with him, and ther was lots of Creek Indja~ ~a~nd s axes in the outfit when they made a break for the North. The run- awa7s wa~ ridiz~ p nies stolen from their masters. . . When they get into the hilly country farther north in the country that be- long to the Chei ok Indians , ~they make ~ampon a big creek and there the Reb~l

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~ ~ ~ Oklahoma Wri Proj ect P1~oebe Baflks:..3~. Indian sold.iers atch up, but they was fought back. Then long before morning lighten the sky~ the men hurry and. sling the camp kettles across the pack horses,tie the littlest children to the horses backs and~ get on the move farther into the mo~mta1ns. They kept moving fast as they could, but the wagons made i. t mighty slow inthe brush and. the lowland swam~ ~ just about the time they ready to ford. another creek the Indian soldiers catch up and the fighting begin aJ~1 over again. The Creek Indians ax4 the slaves with them try to fight off the~.ui soldiers like they CUd. before, but they get scattered around and seyarated sots they lose the battle. Lost their horses and wagons, and the soldiers killed lots of the Creeks and Negroes, and some of the slaves was captured and took back to their masters. Dead all over the hills when we get away; some of the ~egroes shot and wound~ ed so bad. the blood nui down the saddle skirts, and some fall off their horses miles from the battle ground, and lay still on the around. Daddy and Uncle Jacob keep our family together somehow and head. acro ss the line tnto kansas. ~e all get to Fort Scott where there was a big army camp; daddy work in the blacksmith shop and~ Uncle Jacdb join with the Northern soldier s to fiait against the South. He come through the war and. live ~ to t eU me about the fighting he been in. He went with the sold.iers down arouth Fort 0-ibson where they fight the Indians who st~r d with the South. Uncle Jacob say he killed many aman durIng the war, aM shoIec3. nie the imisket and sword he used. to fight with; said. he dI dn~t shoo t the wom n and. children ~. jus t whack thel r heads off wi th the sword, and almost could. I see the blood ~ dripping from the points I t n d~ ni scar & at his stories. ~ ~ ~ ~. ~ . ~ :~~ ~ ~ ~ W8~t ~ l~ sen ~ to : ~ brair~ ana at : ~ ~da.i d~

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- ~ Oklahoma Writers Project . Phoebe Banks ..~4-. so before the fighting start he put out a tub of white liquor (corn whiskey) ana. steam them up sois theytd be mean enough to whip their grannie! The soldiers do lots of riding and the saddle-sores get so bad they grease their body every night Wi th snake oil ~ s they could keep going on. Uncle Jacob said. the biggest battle was at Honey Springs (1863). That was down near Elk Creek, close by Ohe otah, below Rentiersville. He said. it was the niost terrible fighting he seen, but the Unioneoldiers whip~ed and. went back into Fort ~libson. The Rebels was c1~ased ai . over the country and. 00~1dfltt find. each other for a long time, the way he tell it. After the war our family come back here and s~ttle at Port Gibson, but it aifltt like the plade my m ther told. me about. There was big houses and. buildings of brick setting on the high land above the river when I first see it, not like she know it when the Perr~jmans come here years ago. She heard the Indians talk about the old fort (1824) the one that rot down long before the Civil ~ar. And she seen it herself when she go with the Master for trading with the stores. She said it was made by Matthew Arbuckle and his soldiers, and. she talk about Company~ B, C, D, IC, and. the $eventh Infantry wh was there and. made the Osage Indians stop fighting the Creeks and Oherokees. She talk of it, but that old. place all gone when I first see the Fort. Then I hear about how after the Arbuckle soldiers leave the old log fort, the Cherokee Indians take over the land and start up the town of ~Ceetoowah. The folks who move in there make the place so wild and. rascally the Cherokees give up trying tom ke a goodS town and it kinder blow away. My husband wa~ ~ot~ Banks, but the boy I got ain t my own son, but I found on my doorst p when hets about three weeks old. and raise him like he is my bl~d.~ ~ ~ *entth school at the manual training school at Tallahassee and. ed.ii~a~t~6~ ii g t get him a teacher job atTaft (Okia), ~here he is now. him own . ~ the ~

Prince Bee. Age 85 yrs. Red Bird, Okla. 018 014

3501(14 H . ~ Oklahoma Writ ers ~ Proj ect ~x~ Slaves ~ 14 I:!;~~~ ? I ~ . Age 8~ yrs., Red. Bird., Okia. ~ I dontt know how old I wasi:when I found myself standing on the . toppen part of a high stump with a l~t of white folks walking around looking at the little scared boy that w~s me~ Pretty soon th old master, (that s my .~ p first master) Saul I~udvil1e, he say to nie that I~xn now belonging to Major Bee and for me to get down off the auction block, . : I do that. Major Bee he cc~rnes. over and right away I know l in going tc. like him. Then when I get to the~Major~s plantation and see his oldest ~~ghter Mary and. all her brothers a~.d sisters, and see how kind she is to all them and to all the colored chil4~.ren, why, I just keeps right on liking t em more all the time. . They was about nine white bhildren on the place and Mary had. to watch out for them cause the mother~ was dead. That Mary gal seen to it tI~iat we children got the best food. on the %i place, the fattest possum and the ho~ttest fish. When the possum was all browned, and. the sweet ~ taters swiinir~ing in the good mellow gravy then she : ca .l t~ for to eat. Um- um~h! That va~ tasty eating! . . And. from the garden cdrne ~ie vegetables like okra and corn and. onione that Mary would. mix all up ix~ the soup pot with lean meats. TbM would rest kind.er easy on the stomach too,~ tspeoially if they was a bit of red. s ~iiirrel meats in with the stew! H ~ Major Bee say it wasntt g od for me to learn reading and. writing. O / Beckoned~ it would. ruin me But the ~ ser~t me to Sttnday School. Sometimes. ~~1$~ t many of the slates knew bow ~ ~o read. the Bible either bat thel ail got ~ \ taie I eU ion anftew~ I believed. i~ it then and I etUi do.

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Oklahoma Writers Project -2- :15 That religion I ~ot in them way back days is still with me. And. it aintt this pie crust religion such as the folks are getting these days. The old. time religion had. some filling between the crusts, wasn t so many empty wor s like they is today. They was haunt s in them way hack days t o o . Howt s I know? ~ sause I stayed. ri~ght with the haunts one whole night when I ~et caught in a norther when the Major sends me to another plantation for to bring back some cows he s bargained for . That was a cold. night and. a fright fui one. The blizzard. overtook me and. it was clark on the way. Icome to an old. gin house that everybody said. was the hauntinest place in all the county. :s,~~t I went in account of the cold. and. then when the noises started I was just too scared to move, so there I stood in the corner, ail the time stil morning come. There was nobody I could see, but I could hear peoples feet a tromping and. stomping around. the room and. they go up and. down the stairway like they was running a race. Sometimes the noises would be right by my sid.e and. I would feel like a hot wind. passing around me, and. lights would. flash all over the room. No- body could. I see. Then daylight corne I went throngh that d.oor without looking back and. head.ecl for the plantation, forgetting all about the cows that Major Bee sent me for to get. When I tells them about the thing, Mary she won t let the old. Major scoLi, and. she fixes me up with some warm fooas and. I is all right again. But I stays me away from that gin place, even in the daylight, account of the haunts. When the War come along the Major got kinder mean with some of the slaves, but not with me. I never d~ia try to run off, but some of tem did~. One of my brothers tried and~ got caught.

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Oklahoma Writers Project 3 .. :16 The old. Master whipped him ~ti1 the blood spurted all over his body, the bull whip cutting in d.eeper all the time. He finish up the whipping with a wet coarse towel and. the end. got my brother in the eye. He was blinded in the one eye but the other eye is good. enough he can see they ain t no use trying to run away no more. After the War they was more whippings. This time it was the night riders ~ thera Klan 1~olks did.n~ t fool with mean Negroe s . The mean Negroes was whipped. and. some of them shot when they do something the Klan folks didntt like, and when they come a riding up in the night, all covered with white spreads, they was somethir~g bound. to happen. Them way back &ays is gone and. I is mighty glad.. The Negroes of today needs another leader like Booker washington. Get the youi~ folks to working hat s what they neea, and. get some filling in their p4 crust re~ ligion sois when they meet the Lord their souJ4 won~t be empty like is their pocketbooks today!

Francis Bridges. Age 73 yrs. Oklahoma City, Okla. 024 020

. 350089 ~ Oklahoma V riterst Project ~x-S1ave~ 20 ~ ~ \~ ~ ~ FRANCIS BRIDGES ~. ~ - Age 73 yrs. . Oklahoma City, Okia. I was born in Red. River County, Texas in 1864, and. that makes me 73 years old. I had. myself 7o, and. I went to my white folks and. they counted. it up and. told. me I was 73, but I always felt like I was old.er then that, My husbandts name is Henry Bridges. ~Ve was raised. up children to. gether and. married.. I had. five sisters, My brother died here in Oklahoma about two years ago. He was a Fisher. Mary Russell, my sister, she lives in Parish, Texas; Willie Ann Poke, she lives in G reenvllle, Texas; ~Tinnie ~3Iackson, lives in Aclonia, Texas, and. Mattie Thite, my other sister, lives in Long Oak, Texas White Hunt County. Our Master was named. Master Travis right, and. we all ate nearly the saine thing. Such things as barbecued. rabbits, coon, possi~ms baked. with sweet potatoes and all such as that. I used. to hang round. the kitchen. The cook, Mania Winnie Long, used to feed. all us little niggers on the flot, jest like little pigs, in tin cups and. wooden spoons. ~e ate fish too, and. I like to go fishing r.ight this very day. Vie lived right in old. Mast er 7~ ~ yard.. His hous e sat way up on a high hill. It was jest a little old log hut we lived. in a little old. shack around the yard.. They was a lot of little shacks in the yard., I cant t tell jest how many, but it was quite a number of em. We slept in ol&-fashion beds that we called. corded. beds , tcause they Iad ro~es crossed. to hold. the mattresses for slats. Some of ~em had. beds nailed to the ~rall.

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Oklahoma ~Vrit erst Proj ect - 2- 21 Master Travis Vlright had. one son named. Sam V right, and after old. Master Travis Vlright aled, young ~aster Sam Wright come to be my motherts master. He jest died. a few years ago. My mother say dey had a nigger d.river and. ~ d whip t em all but his d.aughter. I never seen no slaves whipped., but my mother say dey had. to whip her Uncle Clarley Mills once for tell a ~story. She say he bored. a hole in de wall of de store tu he bored. de hole in old. Masterts whiskey barrel, and he caught two jugs of whiskey and. buried it in de banks of de river. When old. Master found. out de whiskey was gone, he tried. to make Uncle Oharley tfess up, and. Uncle Ch~r1ey would.ntt so he brung him in and. hung him and. barely let his toes touch. After Uncle Charley thought he was going to kill him, he told. where de whiskey was. We d.id.ntt go to church before freed.om, land nol tcause the closest church was so far it was 30 miles off. But I m a member of the Baptist Church and. I ve been a member for some 40 odd. years. I was past 40 when I heerd of a Methodist Church. My favorite song is Companion. I didntt get to go to school til after slavery. I member more after de ~Tar. I member my mother said dey had. patrollers, and. if de slaves would get passes from de Master to go to de dances and. djd~ntt git back before ten Otciock deytd beat tern half to death. I used to hear !:~I talking tbOut Ku Klux Klan coming to the well to get water. They d draw up a bucket of w~ter and pour the water in they false stomachs. They false stomachs was tied. on tern with a big leather buckle. They d. jest pour de water in there to scare em and. say, tt~hj~ is the first drink of water I ve had. since I left Hell. They d say all sech things to scare the cullud. folks. I heerd my mother say they sold slaves on what they called. an a~c~tion

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-3~ 22 Oklahoma Writers Project block. Jest like if a slave had. any portly fin looking children they d sell them chillun jest like selling cattle. I dithitt see this, jest heerd it. After freedom, when I was old. enough then to work in the field, we 1 ived. on. Mr Mart is p~jntat ion Vie worked. awful hard in the fi elds Lawd. yes mi I ve heard bout shucking up de corn, but give me dem cotton pickings. Pry d. pick out all ~e crop of cotton in one day. The women would. cook and. de rnen d pick the cotton, I mean on dem big cotton ~ickin~s. Some would work for they meals. Then after dey d gather all de cro:os, deytd give big dances, drink whiskey, an~i jest cut up sur~min terrible. ~Te didntt 1~iow anything bout holi~ c~ays. ~ I ve heard my husbnn~i t~1~ bout Raw head a~t bloody bones. Said whenever dey mothers v:nnteCi t~ scnre tem to make ~em be good dey d tell em dat a man was outside de .oor and asked her if ~ hold his head while he fixed his back bone. I dontt bel~ve in voodooing, and I don t believe in hants. I used to believe in~oth of em ~ hen I was young. I married Jako ~3rid~es. ~t~e had. a ordinary wedding. The preacher married us and we had a license. ~e bave two sons gvown living here. My husband told. me that in slavery if your ~Iaster told you to live with yo ~r brother, you had. to live with him. My fatherts mother and dad was first cousins. I can member my husband telling me he was hauling lumber from Jeff er son where the saw mill was and it was cold that night, and when they got half way back it snowed, and. he stopped with. an old cullud family, and he said way in the night, a knock come at de door woke tem up, and it was an old. cullud man, and. he said dis old man coinnience inquiring, trying to find out who dey people was and dey told him best dey could remember, and bless de Lawcl, ~ fore dey finished talking de found out dis old cullud man and. de other cullud woman ant man dat was married was all brothers and sisters, and. he told his brother

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O1:lahoina Writerst Project -.4.- 23 it vias a sh~xne he 1ia~. married his sister and dey bad nine chillun. ~Iy husband. sho to1d~ me dis. I ve heerd tem say dey old master raised chillun by those cullud women. .. hy, there was one white man in Texas had a cullud. woman, but didn t have no chillufl by her, and he had this cullud woman an~ her old. mistress there on the SIUT1C Diace. So, when old Mistress died he v~ouldntt let this cullud. woman leave, and he gave lier a swell home right there on the ~?lace, and she is still there I ~uess. They say she say sometime, she didn t want 4o i~egro men smutting her sheets u:o. ~ I think Abraham Lincoln was a good. man, and. I have read a whole lots bout him, out I don t i~iOV7 much bout Jeff Davis. I think Booker T. Washington is a fine man, but I amt heerd so much about him.

John Brown. Age (about) 87 yrs. West Tulsa, Okla. 028 024

350102. Oklahoma Writers Project ~xSlaves 24 ~ ~O1~BR ~! ~Age (about) 87 yrs. West Tulsa, Okia. Most of the folks have themselves a regular birthday but this old colored ~n just ~oick out any of the days th~ing the year one day just about as good as another. I been around a long time but I don t know when I got h re. That s the truth. Nearest I figures it the year was 1850 the month dontt make no difference nohow. ~ ~ut I know the borni~ was d.owa in Taloga County, Alabama, near the county seat town. uliss Abby was with t~ ~r~rry that day. She was the wife of Master John ~rown. She was with all the slave women every time a baby was born, or when a plague of misery hit the folks she knew what to do and. what kind. of ~e&icine to chase off the aches and. ~a1ns. God bless her! She sure loved us ~Iegroes. ~kst 0 the t~i~e there was ~nore~n three hundred slaves on the plantation. The oldest ones coae right from Africa. My Grandmother was one of the~i. A savage in Africa ~ a slave in A~ner1ca. Mam~iy told it to me. Over there all the natives dressed. naked and lived on. fruits and nuts. Never see ~ny~ white zens. One day a big ship stopped off the shore and the natives hid. in the brush alo~ the beach. Grandmother was there. The ship men sent a little b~t to the shore aM scattered bright thir~gs and trinkets on the beach. The natives vers curious. Grandrnother said everybody niade a rttsh for them things soon as the boat left. The trinkets was fewer than the peoples. Nett day the ~hite folks scatter some more. There was another scramble. The natives was

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Oklahoma Writers1 Project ~2- 25 feeling less scared., and. the next day some of them walked up the ~angp1ank to ~et things off the plank and. off the deck. The deck was covered with things like they d found on the beach. Two three hundred r~atives on the ship when they feel it move. They rush to the side but the plank was gone. Just dropDed lii the water when the ship moved away. - Folks on the beach started to crying an.d. shouting. The ones on the boat was wild with fear. Grandmother was one of them who got fooled, and she say the last thing seen of that place was the natives running up ana down the beach waving their arms and. shouting like they was mad. The boat men come up from below where they had been hiding and drive the slaves down in the bottom and. keep them quiet with the whiDs and. clubs. The slaves was landed at Charleston. The town folks was mighty mad tcause the blacks was driven through the streets without any clothes, and drove off the boat men after the slaves was sold on the market, Most of that. load was sold. to the Brown plantation in Alabama. Grandmother was one of the bunch. The Browns taught them to work. Made clothes for them. Por a lo~ time the natives didntt like the clothes and try to shake them off. There was three Brown boys John, Charley and Henry. Nephews of old Lady Hyatt who was the real owner of the plantation, but the boys run the place. The old. lad.y she lived in the town. Come out in the spring and. fall to see how is the plaaitation doing. She was a fine woman. The Brown boys and. their wives was just as good.. Would.n1t let nobody mistreat the slaves. Whippings was few and nobody get the whip ~ le ~ s he need it bad. They t each the young ones how to read. and write; sa.y it was good for the Negroes to know about such thirzgs...

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Oklahoma Writerst Project -3-26 Siind.ay was a great day arouth the plantation. The fields was forgotten, the light chores was hurried. through and. everybody got ready for the church meeting. It was out of the doors, in the yard. fronting the big log where the Browns all lived.. Master John s wife would. start the meeting with a prayer ana then would come the singing. The old. timey songs. The white folks on the next plantation would lick their slaves for trying to do like ~ve d &. No praying there, and. no singing. The Master gave out the week s supply on Saturday. Plent~ of hams, lean bacon, flour, corn meal, coffee and. more n enongh for the week. Nobody go hungry on that places During the growing season all the slaves have a garden spot all their own. Three thousand acres on that place plenty of room for gardens and field crops. P~ven during the war foods was plentiful. One time the Yankee sold.iers visit the place. The white folks gone and. I talks with them. Asks me lots of questions got any meats got any potatoes got any this some of that but I just shake my head and they don t b ok around. The old cook fixes them up though. She fry all the eggs on the place, skillet the ham and. pan the biscuits! Them soldiers fill up and leave the house friendly as anybody I ever see! The Browns wasntt bothered with the Ku fl.ux Klan either. The Negroes minded their own business just like before they was free. I stayed on the plantation stil the last Brown die. Then I come to Oklahoma and works on the railroad stil I was too old to hustle the grips and~ packages. Now I just sits thinking how much better off wou I be on the old. plantation. Homesick! Just homesick for that Alabama farm like it was in them good. old. times!

Betty Foreman Chessier. Age 94 yrs. 034 030

. ~ ~ ~ ~ . 2~5QO63 . . Oklahoma Writerst Project Ex Slav* 30 ~ BETTY FOREMAN CEB~SSI~R Age 94 years Okla)aozaa City, Okia. I w~~s bDrfl July 11, 1843 In Raleigh, L C. My mot,her was naiaed Melinda Manley, the slave of GovernorManley of North Carolina, and. i~y father was named. Arnold. Foreman, slave of Bob and. Jobn Poreman, two yoimg Tuasters. They come over from Arkansas to visit my ix~ster and. my pappy and. matnn~ met and. got married., ~ thoii~h my pappy only seen ~y marnn~y in the si~mmer when his masters come to visit our master and. d.ey took h1xr~ rlg,ht back. I had. three sisters and two brothers and. none of dem was my whole brothers arid sisters. I stayed in the Big Eous all the tiire, but ny sisters and. brothers was gived. to the mat g sons and. daiighte rs whey dey go t married. and dey was told. to send. back for some more when dem died. I di&ntt never stay with my mammy doing of slavery. I stayed in the . Big Rouse I slept under the dining room table with three other darkies. The hot was well carpeted.. Dont t rexnembah my grandn~iainmy and. grand.pappy, but my n~.ster was they master. . I wait ed. on the table kept file s n my mis tress and went for the mail. Never made no money, but dey did. give the slaves money at Christmas time. I never had over two dresses. One was calico and one. gingh~un. I bad such Wunde relothes as dey wore then. Master Manley and Mistress had six sons an~ ~ d.arters. Dey raised. dem all till dey was grown too. Dey lived in a great big house tcross from the mans ion right . in . town before Master was ~ ~Le cted Governor den dey all moved. in dat mansion. . Plantation. folks had. barbecties arid lay crop feasts and. invited the city darkies out When I first cous here I could.n ~ t understand. the fo).ks here, tcause dey didntt pitt work on Easter Monday. That is sonm da~

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Oklahoma W~iterst Project 31 in North Carolina even today. I doesntt remernbrr any play songs, tcause I was almost in prison. I couldn t play with any of the darkies and I d.oesn t re~ member playing in my life when I was a little girl ana when I got grown I d~ithi t want to. I wasn t hon~ry, I wasn t.nai~ed and. I got only five licks from the white folks in my life. Dey was for being such a big forgitful girl. I saw 1em sell niggers once. The only pusson I ever seen whipped at dat whipping post was a white man. ~ I never got no learning; dey kept us from dat, but you know some of d.em darkie s learnt anyhow. We had. church in the heart of own or in~ the basement of some old. building. I went to the piscopal church most all the time, till I got to be a Baptist. The slave s run away to the I Torth ~ caus e dey want ed. to b e free Some of my family run away sometime and. dey d.ithi t catch tem neither. The pat rollers t watched. the street s But when d~ey caught any of mast ert ~ niggers without passes, d.ey jest locked. him up in the guard house and. master come down in the mawnint and git em out but dem patroller s bett er not whip one. I know when the War commenced and ended. Master Manley sent me from the Big House to the office about a mile away. Jest as I got to the office door, three men rid up in blue uniforms and said, Dinah, do you have any milk in there?U I was sent down to the office for some beans for to cook dinner, but dem men most nigh scared me to aeath. They never did. go in dat office, but jest rid off on horseback about a quarter a mile and seem lak right now Yankee s fell out of the very si~ , ~ cause hunc3.eds and hund.ed.s was everywhere you could look to save your life. Old. Mistress sent one of her gran&chillun to tell me to come on, and. one of the Yankees told. dat child, You tell your grandmother she ain1t coming now and. never will come back there as a slave. Master was setting on the mansion porch. Dem Yankees come up on

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Oklahoma Writers Project - 3- 32 de porch, go clown in cellar aud~ ciid.n~t tech one blessed thing. Old. Mistress took heart trouble ~ cause dem Yankees whipped white folks going and. coming. I laid. in my bed. a many night scared to death of flu ~1ux Klan. Dey would. come to your house and ask for a th iIilC and. no more want a drink than nothing. ~ After the War, I went to mammy and. my step- pappy. She clone married. again, so I left and. went to Warrington and. Hal,Z~ifax, 1 Torth Carolina, jest for a little while nursing some white chillun. I stayed in Raleigh, where I was born till 7 years ago, when I come to Oklahoma to live with my only living child.. I am the mother of 4 chiflun and. Il grandchillun. Then I got married I jumped a broomstick. To git umnarried., all you had. to do was to ji~mp backward.s over the same broomstick. LIncoln and. Booker T. Wa3hington was two of the finest men ever lived. Don t think nothing of Jeff Davis, tcause he was a traitor. Preed.oin for us was the best thing ever happened.. Prayer is best thing in the world.. Everybody onght to pray, ~ slaver~

Polly Colbert. Age 83 yrs. Colbert, Oklahoma. 037 033

~ ~5OOi8 Oklahoma Writerst Proje~t ~x-Slaves t. 33 POLLY COLBEBT . Age 8~3 yrs, Oolbert, Ok1ahoi~ I am now living on de forty acre farm dat de Government give me and lt is just about three miles from my old. home o~i Master Holi~es Colbert1a plantation where I lived. when I was a slave. Lawsy me, times sure has changed since slavery timesl IJaybe I notice It more since I been living here all de time but deret s farms ~ 1~O~iid here dat Itve seen grown timber cleared off of twice during my lifetime. Dis land was first cleared up and worked by niggers wh~i dey was slaves. After de War nobody work ~d lt and. it just naturslly growed up again wid. all sorts of trees. Later, white folks cleared~ it up again and took grown trees off~r~ it and now dey are still cultivating it but it is most ~re out now. Some of it wont t even sprout peas. Dis saine land used to grow corn without 1~ar&ly any wo rk but I t sure won t do I t now. I reckon it was on account of de rich land dat us niggers dat was owned by Indians didn1 t have to work so haH as dey did in de old. states, but I think dat Indian masters was just naturally kinder any way, leastways nilne was. My ir~ther, Lisa, was owned by de Colbert family and my father, Tony, was owned by de Love family. When Master Holmes and. Miss Betty Love was married dey fathers give niy father and mother to dem for a wedding gift. I was born at Tishomingo and we moved to de farm on Bed. River seon after dat and I been here ever since. I ~ a sister a~d a brother, but I alntt seen dein since den.

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Ok1~boma Writer 1 Project ~34 My mother died. when I was real small, and. about a year after Iat my father &ie& Master Holmes told us ohild.ren not to cry, dat he and M1~~ Betsy ~ni1d take good. care of u~. Dey did., too. Dey took us in de house wid dem and look after us jest as good as dey could. colored ehlld.ren. We slept in a little room close to them and. she allus seen dat we was covered. up good. before she went to bed. I guess she got a sight of satisfaction from taking care of us ~ cause she did.n~ t have no babi es to care for, Master Holmes and. Mise Betsy was real young folk8 but dey was purty well fixed.. he owned about 100 acres of land dat was cleared. and. r ~ad.y for de plow and. a lot dat was not in c ultivatlon. He had. de woods fui . of hogs and cows and. he owned seven or eight grown slaves and. several children, I remember Uncle Shed, Uncle Lige, Aunt Chaney, Aunt Lizzie, and. Aunt Susy just as well as if it ~as yesterday. Master Holmes and. Miss Betsy was both half breed Choctaw Indians. Dey had. both been away to school somewhere in de states and. was well educated. Dey had. two children hat d.ey cUed. when d.ey was little, Another little girl was born to dem after de War and. she lived. to be a grown woman. Dey sure was fine young folks and. provided well for us. He allus hail a smokehouse full of meat, lard, sausage, dried. beans, peas, corn, potatoes, turnips and collaHs banked up for winter. He had. plenty of milk and. butter for all of ue,too. Master Holmes allus say, A hungry man caint work. Ard he allus saw to I t that we had. b te to eat. We cooked all sorts of Indiaxi dishes Toni-fuller, pashofa, hickory..nut grot, Tom-.bud~ha, ash-cakes, and pound. cakes besides vegetables and. meat dishes. Corn or corn meal was used. in all de Indian dishes. We made hominy outtn &e whole grains. Tom ..fu. .ler was made from beaten corn and. tasted. sort

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Oklaiioma Writers1 Project ~- 35 of like honilny. We would take corn ami beat it like in a wooden mortar wid. a wooden pestle, We would husk it by fanning it and. we would den put it on to cook in a big pot. While it was cooking wetd. pick out a lot of hickory-nuts, tie tem up in a cloth and. beat 1em a little and drop teni in and cook for a long time. We called dis dish hickory-nut grot. Then we made pashofa we beat de corn and cook for a little while and d.en we acid fre2h pork and cook until de meat was done. Toms.btidha was green corn and fresh meat cooked together and. seasoned wid tongue or pepper-grass. We cooked on de fire place wid. de pots hanging over de fire on racks and den we baked bread and cakes in a oven skillet. We di&ntt use soda and. baking powder. Wetci put salt in de meal and scald it wid. boiling water ar~l ~nake j t into pone s and. bake t t . roll de ash cakes in we t cabbage leaves and. put ~ em in de ho t ashes and. bake ~ em. We cooked po tatoes and. roasting ears dat way also. We sweetened our cakes wid. molasses, Bnd dey was plenty sweet too. Dey was lots of possum~ and. coons and equirrels and we nearly always had. some one of these to eat. We d parboil de possum or coon and. put it in a pan and. bake him wid. potatoes round. him. We used. de broth to baste him and. for gravy. Hit sure was fine eating dem days. I never had. much work to do. I helped around. de house when I wanted. to and I run errands for Misg Betsy. I liked to do things for her. When ~ot a little bigger my brother and I toted. cool water to de field for de hands. Did.ntt none of Master ~ niggers work when dey was sick. He a .lus saw dat dey had. medicine and. a doctor iffen dey needed one. ~Bout de only sickness we had was chills and fever. n de old days we made lots of our own medicine arid I still does it yet. We used. polecat grease for croup and.

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Oklahoma Vr1te~. e1 Project aa4~ 3G rheumatism. Dog fennel batterfl~-root, aM 11fe ..ever1a~t1ng boiled and. mixed and. xnad.e Into a syrup will cure pneumonia aM pleurisy. Purs1ey~weed, called squirrel physic, boiled. into a syrup Will cure ch111~ and. fever. Snake-root steeped. for a long time and. mixed. with ~th1skey will cure chills and. fever also. Oui do thes was aU made of homespun. De women 5o~e all de spinning and de weaving but Miss Betsy cut out all de clothes and. helped wid. de sewing. She le~med to sew when she was away to school and she learnt all her women to sew. She clone all the sewing for de children. Master Eolmes bought our shoes and. we all bad. em to wear in de winter. We all went bare~. foot in de sunimer. He kept mighty good. teams and he had two fine saddle horses. He and Miss Betsy rode ~em all de time. ~he would ride wid him all over de farm and dey ~nfl& go hunting a lot, too. She could shoot a g~in as good as any flan. Master Holmes sure did. love his wife and. children and. he was so prcml of her. It nearly killed em both to give up de little boy and girl. ~ never did. hear of him taking a drink and he was kind to everybody, both black and~ white, and. everybody liked hin. Dey had lots of conrpany and. dey never turned any~ody away. We lived. about four miles from de ferry on Bed. River on de Pexas Road and. lots of travelers stopped at our house. Je was tlowed. to viel t de colored folks on de Eastman ~ ath Carter plan. tations dat joined. our farn. Eastman and. Carter was both ~thite men dat married Indian wives. Dey was good to dey slaves, too, and. let ~ visit Old. Uncle Kellup (Caleb) Colbert, Uncle Billy Hogan, Rev. John Cari ,

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Oklahoma Writers Project 5 . Rev. Baker, Bey. Hogue, and. old. Father Murrow preathed. for de white folke ai . d~e time and. us colored folks went to clxarch wid. dem. Dey had. church under br~ish arbors and. we set off to ourselves bt.t we could take part in de singing and sometimes a eolored person would ~et happy and. pray and shout but nobody didn t think nothing bout dat. De Pat~ro11ers was de law, kind. of like de policeman now. Dey sure never did whip one of Master Holmes1 diggers for he didn~t allow it. ~. didnt t ihip ~ em hisS31f and he sure didn1 t allow anybody else to either. I was afraid of de Ku Kiuxers too and. I ~ spec te dat Master Holm s was one of d.c leaders iffen de tru.th was known. Dey sure was scary looking. I was scared of de Yankee soldiers. Dey come by and killed some of oui. cattle for beef and. took our meat and. lard. outtn de smokehouse and. dey took some coi~ too. Us niggers was awful mad. We didn~t know anything 1~ut dem fighting to free us. We didn1t specially want to be free dat I knows of, Bight after de War I went over to Bloomfield. Academy to take care of a little girl, but I went back to Master Holmes and. Miss Betsy at de end of two years to take care of de little girl dat was born to &em and. I stayed. with her mttil I was about fifteen. Master Holmes went to Washington as a delegate, for something for Le Indians, and. he took sick and died. and. dey buried. him dere. Poor Miss Betsy nearly grieved herself to death. She stayed on at de farm till her little girl was gi~wn and. married. Her nigger men stayed on with her and. rented land froiii her and dey sure raised a sight of tr~ick. Didn t none of her old slaves ever m~ very far from her and. most of them worked for her till dey was too old to work. I left Miss Betsy purty soon after Master Holmes died. and. went back to

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Oklahoma Writers1 Project 38 d~e Academy and. stayed. three yee s. I married. a man dat belonged. to Master Holmes1 cousin. His name was Colbert, too. I bad. a big we&ding. Mus Betsy and~ a lot of white folks come and. stayed for dinner. We danced. all evS*in~ and. after sapper we started again and. d.ance& all night ath 1e next day aixi d~e next night. d. eat awhile axt~ den we ~ &ance awhile. My Imsbancl and. I ha~ nine chulth~en ar~1 now Itve got seven grandehil&ren. My husband. has been dead. a long time. My sister, C1~aney, lives here close to me but her mind. bas got feeble and she ant t recollect as nuich as I can, I live wi th my son and. he~-i a mighty good. to me. I ~ow I aine t long for dis world but I don~ t mind. for I has lived a long time an& Vll have a lot of frtend.s in de other ~rl& a~. I WOn~t be lonesome.

George Conrad, Jr. Age 77 yrs. 043 039

. ~35OtY3~J ~ -~ ~ Oklahoma Writers Project Exu Slaves ~ G~OR ~E OO1~B~&D, J, . ~ ~A~ge 77~y~. ~ Oklahoma City, Okia. I was born B ebr~iary 23, 1860 at Connersville, Harrison County, !~en tucky. I was born and. lived. just 13 miles from Parish. My mother s naine Is Rachel Conrad~, born at Bourbon County, Kentucky. My father, George Conrad~, was bo rn at Bourbon County Kentuc1~y. My grandmother s name is Saille Amos and. grandfather s name Is Peter Arno s . ~f~y grandIather hi s old. Mast e~ freed him and. he bought my grandmother, Aunt Liza and. Uncle Cy. Ee made the money by freighting groceries from Ohio to Maysvilie, Kentucky. Our Master was named Master Joe Conrad. We sometimes called him Mos Joe Conrad. Master Joe Conrad stayed. in a big log house with weather boarding on the out si de . ~ . I was born in a log cabin. We slept in wooden beds with rope cords for slat s and. the beds bad. curtains around. them. You see my mother was the cook for the Master, and she cooked. everything ~ chicken, roasting ears. She cooked mo stly everything we have now. They dl dn t have stoves ; they cooked. In big ovens. The skillets had three ~ legs. I can remember the first stove that w~ had.. I g ~iess I was about six years old.. My old. Master had 900 acres of land.. My father was a stiller. Re made three barrels of whisky a day. Before the ~ar whisky sold. for 12*~ and i3 t a gallon. After the War it went up to $3 and. $4 pe~ gallon. When Tear broke out he had 300 barrels hid under old. Master s barn. . t . f t There was 14 colored. men working for old. Master Joe and. 7 women. think it was on the 13th of May, all 14 of these colored men, and. my father, went to the Army. When old. )d~aster Joe come to wake em up the next morning ~ remember he called real loud, Xile~, ~sau, George, Prank, Arch, on down the line, and my mother told. him theytd all gone to the army. Old. Maeter went

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Oklahoma Writerst Project .~ 40 to Cynthia, Kentucky, where they had. gone to enlist and. begged the officer In charge to let him see all of his boys, but the officer said No.~ Some way or nother hegot a chance to see Arch, and Arch came back with him to help raise the crops. ~ My mother cooked and. took care of the house. Aunt Sarah took care of the children. I had. two little baby brothers, Charlie and. John. The old. Mistress would let ~iy mother put them in her cradle and. Aunt Sarah got jealous, and. killed both of the babies, Then they cut one of the babies open they took out two frogs. Some say she conjured the babies. Them niggers cou~d~on~ jure each other but they couldn t do nothing to the whitefoiks, but I d.o&t believe In It. There s an old. woman living back there now (pointIng around. the corner of the house where he was sitting) they said. her husband. Dut a spell on her, They call ~ em two~headed Negroes. Old. Master never whipped any of his slaves, except two of my uncles ~ Pete Conrad and. Richard Sherman, now living at Th.Ismouth, Kentucky. ~e raised corn, wheat, oats, rye and barley, In the spring. In January, February and. March we1 d. go up ~ to the Sugar Camp where he had. a grove of maple trees. ~Tetd make n~aple syrap and. put up sugar In cakes. Sugar sold. for $2.50 and. $3 a cake. He had. a regular sugar house. My old. Master was rich I tell you. Whenever a memb r of the white family die all the slaves would turn out, and. whenever a slave would. die, whitefolics and. all the slaves would. go. My Masterhad. a big vault. My Mistress was buried In an Iron coffin that they called a potanic coffin. I went back to see her after I was 21 years old. and ~ ~--~-~ she look jest like she did. when they buried. her. All of the family was buried in them vaults, and. I expect if youtd go there today they d look the same. The slaves was buried in good. handmade coffins. . I heard a lot of talk bout the p trollers, In them days if you went ~ :~ ~ away from hom and. dIdnt t have a pass they d whip ~ you. Sometimes they cl. whip

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Oklahoma Writers1 Project -.3.~ 41 you with a long black cow whip, and. then sometime the d. roast elm switches in the fire. This was called cat o- nine~-tai1s , and. they d whip you with dat. ~Ve never had. no jails; only punishment was just to whip you. No*, the way the slaves travel. If a slave ha~ been good some times old Master would let him ride his hoss; then, sometime they d. steal a hoss out and ride ~ em and. slip him back before old. Master ever found it out. There was a man in them days by the name of John Brown. We called him an underground railroad man, tcause he d. steal the slaves and carry tem across the river in a boat. ~hen you got onthe other side you was free, tcause you was in a free State, Ohio, ~ ~ ~ Vie used to sing, and. I gaess young folks today does too: John Brown s Body Lies A~moulding In the Clay.~ and. Il They Hung John Brown On a Sour Apple Tree. Our slaves all got very good. attention when they got sick, They d send and get a doctor for em. You see old Mistress Mary bought my mother, ~ ~ I, father and two ~ throwed. in for $1,100 and she told Master Joe to always keep her slaves, not to sell tem and always take good care of gem. . When my father went to the army old Master told us he was cone to fight for us niggers freedom. My daddy was the only one that come back out of the 13 men that enlisted, and when my daddy come back old Master give him a bug~r and hose. Then the Yank~s come, I never will forget one of tem was named John Morgan. ~e carried old. ilaster down to the barn and. hid him in the hay. I felt so sorry for old Master they took all his harns, some of his whiskey, and all dey could find, hogs, chickens, and jest treated him something terrible. . The whitefoiks learned my father how to read and write, but I didn t learn how to read and write ti . I en J. sted in the U. S. Army in 1883.

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Oklahoma Writerst Project ~t42 They sent us here (Oklahoma Territory) to keep the immigrants from sett1in~ up Oklahoma. I went to Port Rile the ist day of October 1883, and. stayed there three weeks. Left Port Riley and. went to Pt. Worth, Texas, and. landed. in Henryetta, Texas, on the 14th clay of October 1883. Then, we had. 65 miles to walk to Pt. Sill. Vie walked there in three days. I was assigned to my Company, Troop G. 9th Calvary, and we stayed and. drilled. in Pt. Sill six months, when we was assi~ied to duty. VJe got orders to come to Pt. Reno, Okia., on the 6th day of January 1885 where we was ordered to Stiliwater, Okia., to move five hundred. immigrant s under Cap~ . Couch. We landed there on the 23rd. day of January, Saturday evening, and Sund.ay was the 24th. We had. general inspection Mond.ay, J anuary 25, 1885. We feil in line of battle, sixteen com. panies of soldiers, to move 500 immigrants to the Arkansas City, Kansas line. ~ ~ We formed a line at 9:00 &clock Mond.a~ morning and. Captain Couch run up his white flag, and Colonel Hatch he sent the ord.erly up to see what he mea~it by putting up the flag, so Captain Couch sent word. back, If you dontt fire on me, 1111 leave tomorrow. Colonel Hatch turned around to the Major and. told him to turn his troops back to the camp, and. detailed three ~fVtJIw)~ camps of soldiers of the 8th ~ to carry CaDtain Couch s troop of 500 immigrants to Arkansas City, Kansas. Troop L., Troop D., and TroopB. taken them back with 43 wagons and. put them over the line of Kansas. Then we were ordered. back to our supply camp at Camp Alice, 9 miles north of Giithrie in the Ciniarron horseshoe bottom. ~7e stayed there about three months, and. Capt. Couch and. his colony came back into the territory at CaIdwell, Kansas June 1885. I laid. there tU Aug~ist 8, then we changed regi~iexits with the 5th Calvary to go to Nebraska. There was a breakout with the Indians at Ft. Reno the . Ist of Ju1~~ 1885. The Indian Agency tried to make the Indians wear citizens1

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Oklahoma Vfriterst Project ~ 43 clothes. They had. to ~afl General Sheridan from VTashington, D. O., to quiet the Indians down. Now, we had to make a line in three divisions, fifteen miles a part, one non-conimissioned officer to each squad, and. these men was to go to Calciwell, Kansas and. bring him to Pt. Reno that night. ETe came that night, so the next morning Colonel Brisbane and. General Hatch reported to General Sheridan what the trouble was. General Shericthn called all the Indian Chiefs together and asked them why they~rebelled against the agency, and they told. them they were&t going to wear citizents clothes. General Sheridan called his corporals and. sergeants together and told them to go beh~id the guard house and dig a grave for this Indian agent in order to fool the Indian Chiefs. Then, he, sent a detachment of soldiers to order.the Indian Chiefs away from the guard house and to put this Indian agent in the anibulance that brought him to Pt. Reno and take him back to VTa~hington, D. C., to remain there fil he returned. The next morning he called all the ~ndian hiefs to the guard house and pointed down to the grave and said that, I have killed the agent and burierl him there. The Indians tore the feathers out of their hats rejoicing that they killed the agent. On the 12th of the same July, we had general inspection with General Poresides from Washington, then we was ordered back to our supply c&rp to stay there til we got orders of our change. On August 8, we got orders to change to go to Nebraska, to Pt. Robinson, Pt. Nibrary, and. Pt. MelCinney, and. we left on the 8th of August. This is my Oklahoma history. I gave this story to the Daily Qklahoman and Times at one time and they are su~posed to publi eh it but they haven t.. Now you see that tree up there in front of my house? That tree is 50 years old. It is called thepotopic tree. That was the only tree around. herein 1882, This was a bald. prairie. I enlisted over there where the City Market sets now. That was our starting camp under Capt. Payne, but he died.

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~6~ 44 Oklahoma Writerst Project I joined the A. M. E. Methodist Church in 1874. 1 love this song better than all the rest: . Am I a Soldier of the CrossV Abraham Lincoln was a smart man, but he would have done more if he was not killed. I don t think his work was finished. I ll tell you the truth about Booker T. Washington. He argued our ~eople to stay out of town and. stay in the country. He was a Democrat. He was a smart man, but I think a man should live wherever hechoose regardless. I never stopped work whenever I d hear he was coming to town to sDeak, You know they wasntt fighting for freeing the slaves; they was fighting to keep Kansas from being a slave State; so when they had. the North whiDped, I mean the South had. tem whipped, they called. for the Negroes to go out and. fight for his freedom. Dont know nothing tbout Jeff Davis. I ve handled a lots of his money. It was counterfeited after the War. . I ye b een marri ed four t me s . I had one wi fe and three . I mean the three wasnt t no good, My first wife1 s name: Amanda Nelson. 2nd: Po ~ ahuntas Jackson. 3rd: Nannie Shum~ard. We livea together 9 years. She tried to beat me out of my home.

Martha Cunningham (White). Age 81 yrs. 049 045

350014 Oklahoma Writerst Project 45 )IARTE.4 CUNNIXG~AM (white) Age 81 yrs. . Oklahoma City, Oklahoma My fatherts naine was A. J, Brown, and. my mother~s name was Rattie Brown. I was born in the East in Saveer County, Tennessee. I had. twelve sisters and. brothers, all are dead but two. T. S. Brown lives at 32? W. California, and. Maudie Reynolds, my sister lives at Minrovie, California. We lived. in different kin&s of hous~s just like we do now. Some was of log, ~me frame and. some rock. I remember when we didntt have stoves to cook on, no lamps, and. not even any oan&les until I was aboat six years old.. ~e would take a rag and. sop it in lard. to make lights. All of our fu.rniture was home meAe, but it was nice, We had. just plenty . of every thing. I t wasnt t like i t is in these days where yo u have to pick and. scrape for something to eat. My grandfather and. grandmother gave my mother and. father two slaves, an old. woman and. man, when they married.. My grandfather owned a large planta.. tion, and. had. a large number of slaves, and. my father and mother owned several farms at d,ifferent places. Our mother and. father treated. our slaves good.. They ate what we ate, and. they stayed with us a long time after the Wai . I rem mber though all of the slave~ owners werent t good. to their slaves. I have seen tem take those young fine looking negroes, put them in a pen when they got ready to whip them, strip them and. lay them face down, and beat them until white wheips am se on their bodies. Yes some o f them was treated awful sean. ~ I saw mothers sold. from their babies, and babies sold from their aethers. They would. strip thein, put them on the auction block aM sell them ~ bid. them off Just like you ~o~ld. cattle. Some would. sell for

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Oklahoma Vrltemt Project ~46 lots of money. They wo u:L& t take the slaves to church. I do& t remember when the negroes bad. their first BOhOO s, but it was a long time after the War. Iby, I remember when they~d have those big corn shucking~, flax pullings, and, quilting parties. They would. sow acres after acres of flax, then they would meet at eome house or plantation and. pull flax ~mti1 they had. finished., then give a big party. 1~here1d be the same thing at the next plantation and. so on until they1d. ai . in that neighborhood get their crops gathered. I remember theytd. have ail kinds of good eats pies, cakes, chicken, fish, fresh pork, beef, ~ just plenty of good.eats. I went over the battlefield. at Knoxville, Tennessee, two or three hours after the Yankees and the Rebels had a battle. It was about a mile from our house and. I walked. over himdreds of d~ead men lying on the gro und.. Some were fatall~r wounded. and we earn ed. about six o r seven to our house. I saw the doctor pick the bullets out of their flesh. When the Yankee s came they treated. the slave owners awful mean. They drew a gun on my mother, mad.e her walk for several miles one real cold. night arid take them up on the top of a moimtain and. show them where a still was. They would make her cook for ~ em. They took every thing we had. I was about twelve years old. at that time. I stayed. there with my mother until after my father died., then we moved. to Alabama. I was about 22 years old.. I married. a man named. Kelley. He aM my bi o thers were railroad. graders. We traveled. all over Texas. I JDa&e the Run. Caine here in ~ 89 wi Ui my mo ther, husband and. eight children. My husband. and brothers graded. the streets for the towneite of Ok1shoi~,a City aM platted. it off.

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Qklahoma W~tteiQ Project ~3~47 When we ~e4e the ~n we just stood. ou the property until I t was iu~.. veyed. then we ~d. pay $1 .00 and the lot was ours. I camped on the corner of Robinson and. Pottawatoinle Streets and. Robinson aM Chickasaw. I owned. the Northwest corner. L later sold. both lote. I am a Christian, Baptist mostly, I guess, and. I believe in the Great Beyox4. I &on~t think you have to go to church all the time to be saved., bat you have to be right with th Man up yonder before you can be saved.. I am a Republican, and it makes niy blood boil whenever I heai a negro say he is a d.emoerat. They shotid. all be Beptibltoane. I have been married. twice. I married lillian Cunningham here in 1922. Ee j.s dead; in fact both my husbands are d.ead., so I d.o& t see mu.ch need. of talking about them.

William Curtis. Age 93 yrs. McAlester, Oklahoma 052 048

r ~ ~ ~ - ~ Oklahon~ Writei~s1 Project ~ . ~ Ex Slav~ 4~ ~ ~igger, run, ~ De Patteroll git ye~ Bun N~.gger, ruin, He ~ s almo s t here t . Please Mr. Patteroll, . Dontt ketch me~ Jest take d.at nigger . .. . That s behind dat tree.~ Lawsy, I done heard. dat song all my life and it warflt t no j oke neither. De Patrol would. git ye too if he caught ye off the plantation vrithout a pass from your L~ster, and. hetd. whup ye too. None of us .d.assn t leave without a ass. ~ . . 71e chillun sung lots o~ songs and we played. marbles, rrrwnble peg, and~ town ball. In de winter we would setaround. de fire arid listen to our L~ammy and PapDy tell gho s t tale s and. wi tch tale s . I don ~ t gu~e s s dey was sho nuff so but we all . thought dey was . ~ My Mammy was bought in Virginia by our Master, Hugh MoKeown. He owned. a big plantation in C eorg ia. Soon after she come to GeorgiV she married my pa. Old. Master was good. to us. We lived for a while in the quarters behixicl the Big House, and. my mammy was d.e house woman. . Somehow,in a trad , or maybe my pa was mortgaged, but anyway OldMaster.Iet a man in Virginia have him and. we xz~ver see him no more ttill after the ~ar. It nigh broke our hearts wh n he h&~d~ to leave and. old Master. sho ~~- ~- ~-- ~ he could. to make it up t us. sour of us ch~.ll~m. I c3i.th~~t t d.c no work ~ till I was ~~ k~ ~ WIi~LIAM CURTIS Age 93 yrs. McA1 e ster Oklahoma L ~ ~ J

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-~ ~ - ~ --~.-~ ---:~ -~--~~--- ..- ~ --- ~ ~ _.! ~ . . ~ ~ ~ .. ~ . . ~ ~ ~ - ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ . ~ - ~ ~ ~ . ~. ~ ~: . --~--- ~: ~ ~~: Oklahoma ~1riters Project ~ 419 about fifteen years old.. Old. Master bought a tavern and mammy worked as house woman and I went to work at the stables. I d.rove the carriage and. took keer of the team and. carriage. I kept tem shining too. I d. curry the horses Mil they was ~ slick and. shiny. I d. poli sh the harness and the carriage . Old. Mas ter and Mistress was quality and I wanted everybody to know it. They lad three ~ir1s and~ three boys and we boys played. together and. went swimming together. ~7e loved each other, I tell ye. Old. Master built us a little house jest back of d.e tavern and. mammy raised us jest like Old. Mistress d11 her chillun. Then I did.ntt have to work tie boys and. me would go hunting. VTe d. kill possum, coon, scuirrels and. wild. hogs. Old~ Master killed. a vrilcl hog and. he give mammy her ten tiny pigs. She raised ~em and my, at the meat vie had. when they was butchered.. They had. lots of company at de Big House, and. it was de only tavern too so they was la ts of cooking to d.c . They would. go to church on Sunday and. they would. spread their dinners on the ground. My, but they was feasts. Wetd. allus git to go as I d.rive the carriage and. mammy looked. after the food. Vie had. our own church too, with our own preacher. L Vie had. a spinning house where all the old. women would card and. spin wool in de winter and. cotton in de summer. Dey made all our clothes, what few we wore. Us boys just wore long tailed. shirts ttill we was 12 or 13 years old., sometimes older. I was 15 when I started. driving the fa~ibly carriage and. : ~ go t to put on pant s then. : Our suits was mad.e out of jeans. That cloth wore like buckskin. ~ We d. wear em for a year before they had. to be patched.. ~ We made our own brogan shoes too. Wetd. kill a beef and. skin it and. spread. the skin. out and. let it &ry a while. We1d. put the hid.G in lime to get the hair off, thex~ we d. oil i.t and. work it ~ till it was sofib.

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. ~ ~ . ~ .. - ~. ~ ~ . t Oklahoma Writerst Project ...3-. Next we d. take it to the bench and. scrape or Dlesht it with knives. It was then tut in a tight cabinet and. smoked with oak wood. for about 24 hours. Smoking loosened the skin. Wetcl then take it out and nth it to soften it. It was blacked and. oiled and it was ready to be made into shoes. It took nearly a year to et a green hid~e macle into shoes. Tiiian t no wonder we had to go barefooted. Sometime s I d work in the wood. shop dre s sing wagon spoke s iiade spokes with a plane, by hand on a bench. . I didn t haire much work to do before i wa~ 15 except to nm errands. Oneof my jobs was to take corn to the mill to be ground into meal. Some one ~iou1d put my sack of corn on the ifl1 s back and. help me up and ~ d. ride to the mill and nave it ground and they d load me back on and ltd ~o back home. I remember once my meal fell off and I waited. and. waited for some~ bod.y to come by and. help me. I ~ot tired waiting so I toted the sack to a big log and laid it acrost it. I led my mi.ile 4o the log and. after working hard. for a long time I managed to get it on his back. I climbed up a~nd jest as we started off the ~u1e jumped and. I fell off and pulled the sack off with me. I couldntt do nothing but wait and finally old Master came after me. He 1 ~iowed. something was wrong. Old i~~aster was good. to all of his slaves but ~is overseers had. orders to make texn work. He fed tem good. and took good. keer of tern and. never made tern work 5.ffen they was sick or even feltjbad.. They was two things old. Master jest would.ntt ~bide and. dat was for a slave to be sassy or lazy. Sometime s i f dey wouldnt t work or slipped. off de farm d.ey would. whip ~ em. He didn t whip often. Colored. overseers was worse to whip than white ones, but ~ Master allus said, Hadn~t you all rather have a nigger overseer than a white ~ ~ . . ~ . ~ ~ L one? I dont t ~want to whi te man over my niggers . I ye seen the overseer whip L~:h~: ~ -~ ~ ~

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Oklahoma ? riterst Project -.4 . 51 some but I never did. get no whipoing. He would strit te~ to the waist and. vthip tein with a long leather strop, about as wid.e as two fingers and fastened. to a handle. Then de vzar broke out everthing was chanced. l~y young Masters had to ~o. T. H. Mc~eovrn, the oldest was a Lieutenant and w~s one of the first to co. It nigh broke all of our hearts. Pretty soon he sent for me to come and. i:ee~ him conicany. Old. i~aster let me go and. I stayed in his quarters. He was stationed at Atlanta and. Griffin, Georgia. I d stay with him a weei:~or two ~nd 11d. go hor:~te for a feir~ clays and I d take back food. and fruit. I stayed. with him and waited on h~i still he got used to being in the army and they noved hirn out to fighting. I ranted to ~o on with hirn but he would.ntt let Lie, he told. me to ~o back andtake care of Old Master and Old 1~istress. They was getting old by then. Party soon Young ~ster got wounded purty ~bad an~ they sent me home. I never went back. I got a ttpasstt to go home. Course, after the war nothing was right no more. Yes, vre ~ ~s free but we didntt J~ow what to do. We did.ntt v antto leave our old Master and. our old houe. ~Ve stayed on and. after a while my pappy come hone to us. Dat ~as de best thing about de war setting us free, he could. corne bad: to us. We all lived. on at the old plantation. Old Master and old. Mistress died. and yoirng Master took charge of de farm. He couldntt a done nothing without us niggers. He didnit know how to work. He was good to us and divided the crops with us. I never went to school n~ch but my white folks learned. nie to read. . and write,. I could always have any of their books to read, and they bad lots of ?em. Times has changed a lot since that time. I dontt Imow where the : world. is much better now, that it has everthin~ or then when we d.id.n t have ~ ~ . ~

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Writerst Project My,wife is ~ .~ hardly no thins ~ but I believe there was more religion . We always went to church and. I ire seen ~ em bapti ze from in the early morning ~ till afternoon in the Chatahooche river. Folks don t hardly know nowa&ays jest what to believe t s so many religion3 but they s ~ only one God. . I was eighteen when I married. I had. eight chillun. 86 and. she 1 ives in St . Louis Mi ssouri . ~

Lucinda Davis. Age (about) 89 yrs. 057 053

!~!! ~ 3L~UU7~i Oklahoma Writers1 Project ~x~S14ves 3 # ~ ~_) . t,. 1tWha~t lOt gwine d.o when de meat give out? ~hat yo gwine do when de meat give out? . Set in de corner wid. my hoe pooched. out! liawsy! That y0t gwine do when d.e meat come ix~? That yo gwine do when de meat come in? Set in de corner wid~ a greasy chin! ~ Lawsy! about de only little nigger song I know, lesstn itbe de one Great big nigger, laying tlijfld d.e log ~ Pinger on de trigger and. eye on the hawg! Click go d.e trigger anI bang go de gu.n! Here come de owner and. de buck nigger rune And~ I think I learn both of dem long after I been grown, tcause I belong to a full~blood Creek Indian and. I did.ntt know nothing but Greek talk long after d.e Civil rar. My mistress was part white and. knowed. English talk, but she never did. t&Lk it because none of de people talked it. ! heard. it sometime, but it sound like whole lot of wild. shoat in de cedar brake scared. at something when I do hear it. Dat was when I was little girl in time of de ~ar. I dontt know where I been born. Nobody never cUd. tell me. mammy and. pappy git me after de War and I know den ~those child I is., at de Creek Agency help ~ ~ g t me, I . reckon, maybe. First thing I remember is when I was a little girl, and. I belong to old. Thskaya~- hiniha. He was big man in de Upper Creek, and. we have a purty good. H : size farm, jest a little bit to de north of de wagon depot houses on de old. road. at.Honey Springs. Dat place was about twenty~five mile south of Port Gtbson,;, but I t know nothing about ivhar de fort s ~tthen I was a 1 It tie girl 4 LUCINDA. DAVIS Age (about) 89 yrs. Tulsa, Okia. Datt 5 about: But my De men

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Oklahoma Write& Project ~ ~ 54 at dat time. I know de flk River tbout two mile north of whar we live, 1cause I been there many de t~ime, I dontt know if old. Master have a white name. Lots d.e Upper Creek c1~id~n t have no white name. Maybe he have another Indian naine, too, because Tusicayahiniha mean ~1head man warrior11 in Creek, but dat what everybody call him and dat what de family call him too. My Mistresst naine was Nancy, and. she was a Lott before she marry old. man Taskaya-.hiniha. Her pappy n&ie was Lott and. he was purty near white. Maybe so all white, Dey have two chillun, I think, but only one stayed 6n de place. She was name Luwina, and. her husband was dead. His name was ~a1ker, and. Luwina bring Mr. Walker s little sister, Nancy, to live at de place too. Luwina had a little baby bo and dat de reason old Master buy me, to look after de little baby boy. He didntt have no name cause he wasntt big enough when I was with dem, b~it he git a nazie later on, I reckon. ~e a11 call him ~ I stidj I Dat mean ~ 1 1 t tl e man. ~ . Then I first remember, before. de War, old. Master had bout as many slave as I got fingers, I reckon. I can think dem off on my fingers like dis, but I cantt recollect de names. ~ Dey call all de slaves I stilusti ~ Dat mean !Black man. Old. man Tuskaya- hiniha was near bout blind before de War, and. tbout time of de War he go plumb blin& and. have to set on de long seat under de bresh shelter of de house all de time. Sometime I lead. him around de I yard a little, but not very much. Dat about de tiirte all de slave begin to slip out and run off. My own pappy was name St ephany. I think he take dat name ~ cause when he little his ma~nn~ycall him ~ Istifani. Dat mean a skeleton, and. he was a skinny man. He belong to de Grayson family and. I think his master name

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Oklahoma, Writers Project ~ 55 George, but I dontt know. Dey big people in de Creek, and. with de white folks took ~Y mammy name was Serena and. she belong . to some of d.e Gouge family. Dey was big people in de Upper Creek, and. one de biggest men of the G ouge was naine Hopoethleyoholo for his Creek name. He was a big man and. went to de North in de War and. died.:up Ifl ~C~flS9,S, I thiflk. Dey say when he was a little boy he was called Hopoethli, which mean good little boy , and when he git grown he make big speeches e~id dey stick on de yoholo. Dat mean loud whooper. Dat de way de Creek made de name for young boys when I was a little ~girl. When de boy g t old. enough de big men in de town give him a ame, aiid sometime later on when he git to going round wid. de grown men dey stick on corne more name, If he a good talker dey sonietime stick on ~ ~n~3 1ff en he make lots of jokes dey call hIm UHadjo.tt If he is a good leader dey call him Iinala~ and if he kind. of mean dey sometime call him fixigo.~ My~ mammy and pappy belong to two masters, but dey live together on a place. Dat de way de Cree1~ slaves do lots of times. Dey work patches and. gi7e de masters most all dey make, but dey have some for deinselves. Dey didn~t have to stay on de master~s place and work like I hear de slaves of de white people and de Cherokee an.d Choctaw people say dey had to do. Mayb my pappy and. mataniy r~m off and git free, or maybeso dey buy deinselves out, but ~ anyway dey move away some time and. my mamm~r1 ~ master sell ne to old man Tuskaya- hlnlha when I was jest a little gal. All I have to do is stay at de house and mind. de baby. Master had. a good. log house and a bresh shelter out in front like all de houses had. Like a gallery, only it h~d de dirt for de flot and bresh for de roof. Dey cook everything out in de yard. in big pots, and. dey eat out in de yard. too. D~t was shot~ good stuff to eat, and it make you fat too! Roast de

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Ok1a~ioma Writerst Project 56 green corn on de ears in 8e ashes, and. scrape off some and. fry it~ Grind e az7 CO1 fl or iound it up and~ make ash cake. Den bile de greens -~ ai . kinds of greens from out in de woods ~ an ~ chop up de pork and. de deer meat, or de wild turkey meat; maybe all of dein, in de big Dot at de saine time! Fish too, and. de bi~ turtle dat lay out on de banks Dey always have a pot full of sofici settin ri~t inside de house, and. anybody eat when dey feel hungry. Anybody come on a visit, always give tern some of de sofki. Ef dey don1t take none de old man git mad, too! Then you maire de sofki you ~ound u~ de corn real fine, d~i tour :i~n de water an di een it off to git all de little skin from offtn de grain, Den you let de grits soak and den bile it and let it stand, Sometime you put in seine Dounded hickory nut meats. Dat make it real good., I dontt know whar old Master git de cloth for de clothes, less n he buy it. Befot I can remember I think he had some slaves dat weave de cloth, but when I was dar he git it at de wagon deDot at Honey Springs, I think. He go dar all de time to sell his corn, and he raise lots of corn, too. Dat place was on de big road, what we called de road to Texas, but it go all de way up to de North, too. De traders stop at Honey Springs and. old Master trade corn for what he want. He git some purty checkedy cloth one time, and~ everybody git a dress or a shirt made offtn it. I have dat dress till I git too big for it, Everybody dress up fine when dey is a funeral. Dey take me along to mind de baby at t~vo~three funerals, but I dontt lcnow who it is dat die. De Creek shot t~ke on when somebody die! Long in de night you wake up and hear a gun go off, way off yonder somewhar, Den it go again, and den again, jest as fast as dey can ram de load. in. Dat mean somebody dead. Then somebody die de men go out in dc yard and.

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~ Oklahonia Writers! Project let de people 1~ow dat wa~r. Den dey jest go back in de house and let de fire go out aM dons t ei en t ech de dead. person t ill somebody gi t dar what has de right to tech de dead. When somebody bad sick dey build a fire in de house, even in d-e sumer, and don t let it die down till dat person git well or die. Then dey die dey let de fire go out. In de morning everybody diless up fine and. go to de house whar de dead is and stand around in de yard outside de house and dontt go in. Pretty soon along come somebody what got a right to tech and. hand1e~de dead. and dey go in. I dontt know what give dem d-e right, but I think dey has to go thro~xgh some kind of medicine to git d-e right, and I know dey has to drink de red. root and purge good before dey tech de body. Then dey g t de body ready dey come out and all go to de graveyard-, mostly d-e family graveyard, right on d-e place or at some of the kinfolkses~ Then dey git to de grave somebody shoots a gan at de north, d-en de west, d-en de south, and den de east. Iffen dey had- four gans dey used. tem Den dey put de body d-o~i in de grave and put some extra clothes in with it and some food and a. cup of co,ffee, maybe. Den dey takes strips of elm bark and lays over d-e body till it all covered- up, and den throw in de dirt, Vihen de last dirt throwed on, everybody must clap dey hands and. smile, but you sho hadntt better step on any of de new dirt around. de grave, because it bring sickness right along wid you back to your own house. Dat what dey said, anyways. Jest soon as de grave filled up dey built a little shelter over it wid poles like a pig pen, and. kiver it over wid. elm bark to keep de rain from soaking down in de new curt. Den everybcx1y go ba:ck to de house and de family go in and scatter

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Oklahoma Writerst Project .6.. 58 soiie kind. of medicine ty~~ de place and. build a new fire. Sometime dey feed everybody beTh dey all leave for home. every time dey have a funeral dey always a lot of de people ay, D cI& t you hear de stikini squal11n~ in de night t I hear dat sti1 ~ni ai . de njght~U De stikini j~ de screech owl, and he suppose to tell when any~ body going to die ri~ht soon. I hear lots of Creek people say dey hear de screech owl close to de house, and. sho1 nuff somebody in de family die soon. ~hen de big battle come at our place at Honey Springs dey jest git through having de green corn t1~~~~ ff De green corn was just ripene~. enou~i to eat. It must of been along in July. Dat busk was jest a little busk. Dey wasntt enriu~h. men around to have a good one. But I seen lots of big ones. Ones whar dey had ail de different kinds of ban~a. ~ Dey call all ~ de dances some kind. of banga, De chicken dance is de 11Tolosabanga , aiid de ~~Istifanibanga is de one whar dey make lak dey is skeletons and raw heads coming to g t you. De ~HadjobangaI~ is de crazy dance, and dat is a funny one. Dey all dance crazy and make up funny songs to go wid de dance. Everybo y think up funny songs to sing and everybody whoop and la gh ai . de time. But de worse one was de d.rui dance. Dey jest dance ever whichaway, de men and de women together, and. dey wrassle and hug and. carry on awful! De good. people dontt dance dat one. Bverybody sing about going to somebody eises house and. sleeping wld dem, and. shout, ~We is all drunk and. we don1 t know what we doing and we amt t doing wrong ~ cause we I s all d~ and things like dat. Sometime de bad ones leave and go to de woods, toot Dat kind. of doing ma3~e de good people mad, and sometime dey have killings about it. When a man catch one his women maybeso his wife or one of his daughters ~ been to de woods he catch her and beat her and cut off de rim of her earel

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Oklahoma ~Triterst Project ...7.~ 59 People think inaybeso dat am1 t so, but I know it Is! I was combing somebody1s hair one time ~ I aintt going tell who.-~ and. when I lift it up offtn her ears I nearly drap dead! Dar de rims cut ri ~it ~ n ~ em! But she was a marri ed. woman, and I think maybe so I t happen when she was a young ~al and got Into it at one of dem drank dances. Dem Upper Creek took de marrying kind of light anyways. Iffen de yol ngu_ns wanted to be man and wife and de old ones didntt care dey jest went a1~ead and dat was about all, tcepting some presents maybe. But de Baptists changed dat a lot amongst de young ones, I never forgit de day dat battle of de OI~VI1 War happen at Honey Springs! ola. Master jest had de green corn all In, and. u.s had been having a time gittirig it In, too, Jest de women was ail dat was left, tcause de men slaves had all slipped off and. left out. My uncle Abe done got u~ a bunch and gone to de North wid dem to gh, but I dn t Imow den whar he went. He was in dat same battle, and after de War dey called him Abe Colonel. Most ail de slaves ~ ~ dat place done gone off a long time before dat wid dey masters when dey go wid old man Gouge and a man named McDaniel. We had a big tree in de yard, and a grape vine swing in it for de little baby Istidji , and I was swinging him real early in de morning befot de sun up. De house set in a little patch of woods wid. de field in de back, but all out on de north side was a little open space, like a kind of prairie. I was swinging de baby, and all at once I seen somebody riding dis way t cross~ dat prairie ~ jest coming a~ kiting and. e~.laying flat out on his hoes. When he see de house he begin to give de war whoop, ~a.~a-.a. a- he ah! When he g t close to de house he holler to git out de way tcause dey gwine be a big fi~t, and old. Master start rapping wid his cane and yelling to git some grab and blankets in de wagon right now!

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Oklahoma Writerst Project 60 We jest leave everything setting right whar it is, tcepting putting out de fire and grabbing all de pots and. kettles. Some de nigger voinen ran to git de mules and. de wagon and some start gitting meat and corn out of d.e place whar we done hid. J~t to keep de scouters from finding it befot now. All de tinte we gitting ready to travel we hear dat boy on dat horse going on down de big Texas road hollering. ~ra a~a he- he hah!~ Den jest as we starting to leave here come something across dat little prairie shoe nuff! ~e know dey is Indians de way dey is riding, and de way dey is all strang out. Dey had a flag, and. it was all red thid had a big criss-cross on it dat loo1~ lab a saw horse. De mari carry it and. rear back on it when de wind whip it, but it flap all round de horsets head and. de horse pitch and rear lak he Imow something going havpen, she! t3out dat time it turn kind of dark and begin to rain a little, and. we git out to de big road. and de rain come dorn liard. It rain so hard. for a little while dat we jest have to stop de wagon and set dar, and. den long come more soldiers d&i I ever see befog. Dey all white men, I think, and dey have on dat brown clothes dyed wid walnut and butternut, and old. Master say dey de Confederate soldiers. Dey dragging some big guns on wheels and. most de men slopping long in de rain on. foot. Den we hear de fighting up to de north long about what de river is, and de guns sound lak hosses loping tcross a plank bridge way off som whar. De head men start hollering and seine de hosses start rearing and de soldiers start trotting faster up de road. !e cantt git out on de road so we jest strike off through de prairie and make for a creek dat got high banks and a place on it we call Rocky Cliff. ~ Te git in a big cave in dat cliff, and spend de whole day and. dat ni~it in dar, and. listen to de battle going on.

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Oklahoma Writers Project - 9.~ ~31 Dat place was about h~f~~ile from de wagon depot at Honey Springs, and. a little east of it. We can hear de guns going all day, and. along in de evening here come de South side making for a g~t,~way. Dey come riding and running by whar we is, and it dontt make no difference how much de head men hollers at ~em dey cantt make dat bunch slow up and stop. After while here come de Yankees, right. after tem, and dey goes on into Honey Springs and pretty soon we see de blaze whar dey is burning de wagon depot and de houses. . De next morning we goes back to de house and find de so1~t1ers ain t hurt nothing much. De hogs is whar dey is in de pen and de chickens come cackling tround too. Dem soldiers going so fast dey didn t have no time to stop and take nothing, I reckon. Den long come lots of de Yankee soldiers going back to de North, and dey looks purty wore out, but dey is laughing and joshing and going on. Old Master pack up de wagon wid everything he can carry den, and we strike out down de big road to git out de way of any more war, is dey going be any, Dat old Texas road jest crowded wid. wagons! Everybody doing de same thihg we is, and de rains done made de road so mudd~y and de soldiers done tromp up de mud. so bad dat de wagons git stuck all de time. De people all moving along in bunches, and eve~7~.little while one bunch of wagons come up wid another bunch all stuck in de mud, and. dey put all de hosses and mules on together and pul.l em out, and den dey go on together awhile. At night dey camp, and de women and what few niggers dey is have to .git de supper in de big pots, and de men so tired dey eat everything up from de women and. de niggers, purty nigh.

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Oklahoma Writerst Project Mter while we come to de Canadian town. Dat whar old man Gouge been and. took a whole lot de folks up north wid. him, and de South soldiers got in dar ahead of us and took up all de houses to sleep in. Dey was some of de white soldiers camped dar, and dey was singing at de camp. I couldntt understand what dey sing, and. I asked a Creek man what dey say and he tell me dey sing, I wish I was in Dixie, look away -~ look away.~ . I asic him whar dat is, and he laugh and. talk to de soldiers and. dey all laugh, and. make me mad. De next morning we leave dat town and. git to de big river. De rain make de river rise, and I never see so much water! Jest look out dar and dar all dat water! Dey got some boats we put de stuff on, and. float de wagons and. swim de mules and finally git across, but it look lak we gwine all drown. Most de folks say dey going to 3og~ Depot and around Port Washita, but old. Master strike off b~ his self and go way down in de bottom somewhar to live, I don1 t know whar it was, but dey been some kind of fi~ating ai . around dar, tcause we camp in houses and cabins all de time and nobody live in any of tem. Look like de people all git away quick, tcause all de stuff was in de houses, but you better scout up around de house before you go up to it. Liable to be some scouters already in it! Dem Indian soldiers jest quit de army and lots went scouting in little bunches and took everything dey find. Iffen somebody try to stop dem dey git killed. Sometime we find graves in de yard. whar somebody jest been buried

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Oklahoma !riterst Project . . . ~ ~1 .~ 63 fresh, and. one houseb.ad some dead. people in it when old. Mistress poke her head. in it. We g t away from dar, and no mistake! By and by we find. a little cabin and. stop and. stay all de time. I was de only slave by dat time. All de others done slip out and run off. 71e stay dar two year I reckon, tcause we make two little crop of corn. For meat a man name Mr. Walker wid us jest went out in de woods and shoot de wild. 1~ogs. De woods was full of dem wild hogs, and lots of fish in de holes whar he could si cken em wid. buck root and cat cli ~ em wid hi s hands all we want ed.. I dontt know when de War quit off, and when I git free, b t I stsyed wid old man Tu.skaya. hiniha long time after I was free, I reckon. I was jest a little girl, and he didntt know whar to send me to, anyways. One day three men rid. up and talk to de old man awhile in ~nglish talk. Den he called me and tell me to go wid dem to find. my own faxni $. He j est laugh and slap ~y behind and set me up on de hoes in front of one de men and dey take me off and leave my good checked~y dress at de houses Before long we git to dat Canadian river again, and de men tie me on de hoss so I cant t fall off, Dar was all dat water, and. dey amt t no boat, and. dey aintt no bridge, and. we jest swim de hosses. I knowed shoe I was going to be gone dat time, but we g t across. When we come to de Ore ek Agency dar i s my pappy and my mainniy o claim me, and I live wid dem in de Verdigris bottom above Fort Gibson till I ~as grown and dey is both dead. Den I marries Anderson Davis at Gibson Station, and. we git our allotments on de Verdigris east of Tulsa ~ kind of south too, close to de Broken Arrow ~ town. I knowed. old. man Jim McHenry at dat Broken Arrow town. E~ done some preaching and. was a good old man, I think,

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64 Oklahoma Writers1 Project I knowed. when dey started dat Wealaka school across de river from de Broken Arrow town. Dey name it for de Wilaki town, but dat town was way clown in de Upper Creek country close to whar I lived when I was a girl. I had. lots of children, but only two is alive now. My boy Anderson got 3~n a mess and. went to dat MoA1ester prison, but he got to be a trasty and dey let hirn marry a good woman dat got lots of property dar, and dey living all right now. When my old man die I come to live here wid Josephine, but I se blind and. cantt see nothing and all de noises pesters me a lot In de town. And de children is all so ill mannered, too. Dey jest holler at you all de time! Dey dontt mind you neither! ~ ~ When I could~ see and. had. my own younguns I could jest set in de corner and. tell 1em what to do, and iffen dey didntt do it right I could whack tem on de head, tcause dey was raised de old Creek way, and dey know de old folics know de bestl

Anthony Dawson. Age 105. 069 065

~5OO71 ~ : Oklahoma Writerst Project . ~x siav~ s 5 c~~) . A~THOI~1Y DAWSON Age 105 1008 E. Owen St., Tulsa, Okia. Rim nigger, run, ~ ~ De Patterofl git you! ~ ~3 Rim nigger run, ~L~: De Patteroll comel ~ Watch nigger, watch~ De Patteroll trick you! . Watch nigger, watch, He got a big g~1 1 Dat one of the songs de slaves all knowed, and. de children do~mi on de twenty acrest1 usea. to sing it when dey playing in de moonlight troun~ de cabins in d~e quarters. Sometime I wonder iffen de white folks didii t make dat song up so us niggers would keep In line. None of my old. Masterts boys tried to git away tcepting two, and. dey inst up wid. evil, both of tem. One of dem niggers was fotching a bull~tongae from a piece of new ground way at de back of de plantation, and. bringing it to my pappy to git it slmrped.. My pappy was d.e blacksmith. ~ Dis boy got out in de big road. to walk in de soft sand, and long come a wagon wid. ~ white overseer and five, six, niggers going somewbar. Dey stopped. and~ told. dat boy to git in and. ride. Dat was de last anybody seen him. Dat overseer and. another one was cotched. after awhile, and. showed up to be und.ergroutid railroaders . Dey would t eke a bunch of niggers o ~ t own foi some excuse, and on de way test pick up a extra nigger and show him wliar to go to git on de railroad system. When de runaway niggers got to de North dey h~d to. go in de arwy, and dat bolfrom our place got killed. He was a good. boy, but dey j est talked. him into it Dem railroade:s was honest a~td dey ~

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f Oklahoma Writers Project ~ 2.. 66 did~ntt take no presents, but de patrollers was low white trashi We all knowed dat if a patroller jest rode right by and didn t say nothing dat h~ was d~oing his honest job, but iffen he stopped his hoss and. talked to a nigger he was after some kind. of . Dat other black boy was hoeing cotton way in de back of de field and. de patroller rid. up and. down de big road, saying nothing to nobody. De next day another white man was on de job ~ and long in de even~ ing a man come by and axed. de niggers about de fishing and. himtingl Dat black boy seen he was de same man what was riding de day befo1 and he lcnowed. it was a underground trick. But he didn t see all de trick, bless God! We found out aft erwards dat he told. his mamy about it She worked at de big house and she stole something for him to give dat 1OW white trash I reckon, tcause de next day he played sick along in de evening and. de black overlooker he was my uncle sent him back to de quarters. He never did git there, but when dey started. de hunt dey found him about a mile away in de woods wid his head shot off, and old Master sold. his inan~ny to a trader right away. He never whipped hi s grown niggers. ~ Dat w s de way i t worked. Dey was all kinds of white folks j est like dey is now. One man in Sesesh clothes would shoot you if you tried. to run away. Maybe another Sesesh would help si.ip you out to the un~Gr~round. and. say God bless you poor black devil~, and. some of dem dat was poor would. help you if you could bring tein s~umpin you stole, isk a silver dish or spoons or a couple big hams. I could.n~t blaxue them poor white folks, wid. the men in the War and t he women and children hongry. The niggers cUdXLt t belong to ~ ~ . tb~em nohow, and they had. t o live somehow. But now : ~j then they was a devil on earth, walking in the sight of God. arid. spreading iniquity before him. He ;~ was de lo~ &own Sesesh dat would take what a poor runaway nigger had. to give

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Oklahoma V!riters Project -s~*. 6~~! for his chance to git away, and den give him t structi ons dat would lead him right into de hands of de patrollers and git him caught or shot! Y s, dat s de way it was. Devils and good people walking in de road at de same tine, and. nobody could tell one from t~ther. I remember about de trickery so good. cause I was grown and out at that t li e . Then I was a little boy I was a house boy, cause my mammy was the house woman, but when the war broke I already been sent to the fields and mammy was still at de house. ~ I was born on July 25 1832 I lmow ~ cause old. Master keep de book on his slaves jest like on his own family. He was a good man, and old Mistress was de best woman in de world! De plantation had. more tlmn 500 acres and. most was in cotton and. tobacco. But we raised corn and. oats, and. lots of cattle and. horses, and plenty of sheep for wool. I was born on the plantation, soon after my pappy and mammy was brought to it I . ~ t remember whether they was boi~ght or come from my Mistressts father. He was mighty rich and. had. severalhundred. niggers. When she was married he giir~ her 40 niggers. One of them was my pappyts brother. His naine was John, and he was my masterts overlooker. . . We called a white man boss the overseer but a nigger was a over~ looker. John could. read. and. write and. figger, and. old. Master didn t have no white overseer. Master1s name was Levi Dawson, and his plantation was 18 miles east of G~reenville, North Oarolina. It was a beaixtiful place, with all the fences around . the Big ~ House and. along the front made out of barked poles rider style, and. all whitewashe&. .

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-4~ 68. Oklahoma Writers Project The Big Eouse set back from the big road. about a quarter of a mile. It was oniy one story, but it had. lots of rooms. There was four rooms in a bunch on one side and. four in a bunch on the other, with a wide hail in between. They was mad~e of square adzecl logs, all weatherboard.ed. on the outside and planked. up and. plastered. on the inside. Then they was a long gallery clean across the front with big Dillars made out of bricks and. plastered over. They called it the passage tcause it din t have no floor excepting bricks, and. a bi~gy could drive right under it. Mostly it was used to set under and talk and play cards and drink the best whiskey old Master could bizy. Back in behind the big house was the kitchen, and the smokehouse in another place made of plank, and. all was whitewashed. and painted white all the time. Old Mistr ss was named Miss Susie and she was born an Isley. She brought 40 niggers from her pappy as a present, and Master Levi jest had 4 or 5, bu~ he had got all his land from his pappy. he had the niggers and he had. the land.. s the way it~ was and that ~ s the way it stayed! She never let him punish one of her niggers and he never asked her about bi~ring or selling land. Her pappy was richer t1i~n his pappy, and she was sure qualityl My pappyts naine was Axithony, and matnxny~s name was Clianie. He was the blacksmith and fixed the wagons, but he couldn~t read and figger like uncle John. Ma~nmy was the head h9us e wo~nan but idn t know any lett ers either. They was both black like ms. Old man Is .ey, where they come from, had lots of niggers, but Id t think they was off the boat. ::. ~ * . You can set the letters up and I can~t tell them, but you can t fool me with the figgers, tless they are mighty big xrumbers. ~1

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Oklahoma 1~Vriters Project Master Levi had three sons and no daughters. The oldest son was Sinieon. He was in the Sesesh ar~iy. The other two boys was too young. I ~ remember their names. They was a lot younger and. I was grown and out befot they got big. Old~ Master was a fine Christian but he like his j~ewleps anyways. He let us niggers have preachings and. prayers and would give us a parole to go 10 or 15 miles to a cemp meeting and stay two or three days with nobody but Uncle John to stand. for us. Mostly we had white preachers, but~when we had. a black preacher that was Heaven. We didn t have no voodoo women nor conjure -folks at our 20 acres, ~e aU knowed about the Vlord and the unseen Son of God and we didn t put no stock in conjure. Cours e we had luck charms and good and bad s igns but everyb ody go t dem things even nowadays . My boy had a whi t e offi cer in the Big War and he tells me that man 1~ad a,litl old doll tied around his wrist on a gold chain. We used herbs and roots for common ailments, like sassafL~, and boneset and peach tr e poultices and. coon root tea, but when a nigger got bad sick Old Master sent for a white doctor. I remember that old doctor. He lived thn Greenville and he had to come 18 miles in a buggy. Then he give some nigger inedicine he would be afraid the nigger was like lots of them that believed in conjure, and he would say, if you dontt take that medicine like I tell you and. I have to come back here to see you I going to break your dani black neck next time I come out here! ~ ~ Then it was bad weather sometime the black boy sent aft er him~ had. to carry a lantern to show him the way back. If that nigger on his mule got ~.: too~fur ahead so old doctor couldnt t see de light he sho ~ ~ atch de devil from tha~t old doctor and from old Mastei too, 1ess~n he was one of old. M1SSyIS -5- 69

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Oklahoma writ erst Proj ect ~ 711 house niggers, and then old Master jest grumble to satisfy the doctor. Down in the quarters we bM the spinning house, where the old. woman card the wool and. run the loom. They made double weave for the winter time, and all the white folks and slaves had. good. clothes and good. food. Master made us all eat all we could hold. He would come to the smokehouse and look in and. say, You niggers aintt cutting down that smoke side and that souse ~sk you o~ht to t You made dat meat and you got to help eat it U~i~ sever no work on Sunday tceptjng the regular chores. Th~ over looker made everybody clean up and wash de children up and after the praying we had games. Autny over and marbles and I Spy and de likes of that. Some times de boys would go down in de woods and git a possi~m. I love possum and.~ sweet taters, but de coon meat more delicate and de har don t stink up de meat. 1 wasntt at the quarters much as a boy. I was at the big house with my mammy, and. I had. to swing the fly bresh over my old Mistre?s when she was sewing or eating or taking her nap. Sometime I would keep the flies off n old Master, and when I would get tired and let the bresh slap his neck he would kick at me and cuss me, but he never did reach me. He I~iad a way of keeping us little niggers scared to death and never hurtingnobody. I was down in the field burning bresh when I first hear&the guns in the War. De fighting was de battle at I~ingston, North Carolina, and it lasted four days and nights. After while bunches of Sesesh come riding by hauling wounded. people in wagons, and then pretty soon big bunches of Yax~kees come by, but dey didntt acklike d.ey was trying very hard. to ketch up. Dey Shad de coimt ry in charge qui t e s oxne t line and. they had. f orages comii~ ro~un&a . ~the ti~me. ~ By .dat. time old.Master done buried. 14,s money and. all tie silver and. de big clock, ~but the Yankees didn~t ~ar to search out dat

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Oklahoma Writers Project .i7sis kind~ of stuff. All dey ask about was did anybody find a bottle of brandyL Vlhen de War enied u~. most all de niggers stay with old Master and vrork on de shares until de land git divided up and. sold off and the young niggers git scattered to town. I never did have no truck wid. de Ku iCluckers, but I had to step mightyhigh to keep out~n it! De 5hOt ~~jff Kiuzes never did bother around us tCaUSe we minded ourown business and never give no trouble. ~Je wouldn t let no niggers come round our place talkin~ bout delegates and voting, and we jest all stayed on t~ie place. Thit dey was som~ low white trash and some devilish niggers made out like dey was Ku Klux ranging round de country stealing hasses and taking things. Old Master said dey wasn t shore enough, so I reckon he knowed who the regular ones was. These bunches that come around robbing got into our neighborhood and old Master told n~e I better not have my old horse at the house, tcause if I had him they would know nobody had been there stealing and it wouldn t do no good to hide anything tcause they would tear up the place hunting what ~ had. and maine whip or kill ~e. Your old hoss amt no good, Tony, and you better kill him to make them think you already been raided on, old Master told me, ~ so I led him o~at & and knocked him in the head with an axe, and then we hid. all our Yrub and. waited for the Kiuckers to come most any night, but they never dcl. come. I borried. a hess to use in the day and took him back home every night for a~ bout a year. The niggers kept talking about being free, but they wasn t free then and. they aintt now. ~ Putting them free jest like putting goat hair on a sheep. When it rain ~ de goat come a running and ~ git in de shelter ~ cause his hair wons j shed.

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Oklahoma Writers Project -8.. 72 thc rain and. he git cold, but de sheep amt t got sense enough to git in the shelter but jest stand out and. let it rain on him all day. But the good Lord fix the sheep up wid a woolly jacket that turn the water off, and he don t git cola, ~ he don t have to have no brains. De nigger during slavery was like de sheer. He couldnt t take care of hisseif but his Master looked out for him and he didntt have to use his brains. De masterts protection was like de wooly coat. But de mancipation come and. take off de woolly coat and leave de nigger wid no protection and he caintt take care of hisseif either. ~ihen de niggers was sot free lots of them got mighty uppity, and everybody wanted to be a delegate to s methin~ or other. The Yankees told us vie could go down and. vote in the lections and our color was good enough to run for anything. Heaps of niggers believed them. You caintt fault them for that, cause they didn t have no better sense, but I 1~iowed the black folks di&n t have no business mixing in imtil they mowed. more. It was a long time after the Viar before I went dorn to vote and everything quiet by that time, but I haardpeople talk about the fights at the schoolhouse when they had the first election. . I jest stayed on around the old place ~ox1~ time, and then I got on another piece of ground and farmed, not far from Greenville until 1900. Then I moved to Ream, Texas, and stayed with my son ~d until 1903 when we moved to Sapulpa in the Creek Nation. ~Ve come to Tulsa several years ago, and T been 1&ving wit1~ Miii ever since~ I can t move off my bed i~ow, but one time I was strong as a young bull. I raised seven boys and seven girls. My boys was named Edward, Joseph, Purney, Julius, James, and William, and my girls ~ ~ ~ Chanie . MamI e Rebecca and Sus le.

077

Oklahoma Writers Project -9 I always been a deep Christian an~1 depend on God. and know his unseen Son, the King of Glory. I learned about Elm when I was a little boy. old. Master was a good. man, but on some of the plantations the masters wasntt good- men and. the niggers didn1t get the Word. I never did get no reading and writing tca~ise I never did the schools. I thought I was too big, but they had schools and the went. ~ . But I could figger, and I was a good farmer, snd now I b,less the Lord for all his good works. Everybody don t know it I reckon, but we all needed each other. The blacks needed the whites, and still do. There s a diff rence in the color of the skin, but the souls is all white, or all black, ~Dending on the mants life and. not on his skin. The old fashioned. meetings is busted ut into a thousani different kinds of churches and only one G~d to look after them. All is confusion, but I ain1t going to worry my old. head about gem. go to young ones

Alice Douglass. Age 73 yrs. Oklahoma City, Okla. 078 073

r7~- :~ S ~ - ~ ~ ~ C50085 p~3 Oklahoma Vlrlters Project ~ r Ex- S1a~~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ A~e 77 yrs. j . Oklahoma City, Okia. I was born December 22, 1860 in Sumner County, Tennessee. My mother ~ I mean mammy, tcause what did we know 1bout mother and. mamma. Master and Mistress macle dey chillun call all nigger women, ~ 3la~k Mammy.~ Jest as I was saying my mammy was named ~ 1illie ~kins and. my ~aDpy was named Isaac Garrett. My sisters and. brothers was Prank, Susie and. ~ 1lie. They is all in ~ashville, Tennessee right now. They lived in log houses. I tmember my gr~~a~y and when he died. I allus slept in the Big House in a cradle wid. white babies. Vie all the time wore cotton dresses and. we weaved our own cloth, The boys jest wore shirts. Some wore shoes, and I shot did. I kin see tem now as they measured. my feets to g t my shoes. ~e had. doctors to wait on us iffen we got sick and. ailing. V~e wore asafedida to keep all diseases offen us. When a ni~:ger man got ready to marry, he go and. tell his master that they was a woma~i on sech and. sech a farm that he d lak to have. Iffen master give his resent, then he go and asic her master and. tiffen he say yes, well, they jest jump the broomstick. Mens could jest see their wives on Sadday nite. ~ They laid peoples tcross barrels and whuppeci. tem ~ id bull whups till the blood come. They d half feed. tern and. niggers d steal food. and cook all night. The things we was forced to do then the whites is doing of their own free will now. You gotta reap jest what you sow tcause the Good Book says it, They used to bid nigg ers off. and then load tern on wagons and take ~ to cotton farms to work. .1 never seen no cotton till I come heah, Peoples make big miration tbout girls having babies at Il years old. And you better have them whitefoiks some babies iffen you didntt wanta be s old. Though a funny thing to me is, iffen a nigger woman had. a bab~ on the boat on the way

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Oklahoma V riterst Project ~ ~7~j to the cotton farms, they throwed it in the river, Taking ~em to them cotton farms is jest the reason niggers is so plentiful in the South today. I aintt got no education a~taU. In dem days you better not be caught with a newsDaper, else you got a beating and your back almost cut off. Then ni~gers got free, whitefoiks killed tem by the carload, tcause they said it was a nigger uorising. I used to lay On the flo1 with the whitefolks and hear tem pass. Them patrollers roved try n~ to ketch niggers without passes to whup tem. They was sometimes called bush whackers.LXf~ Vie went to white folks church. I was a great big girl before vie went to cullud church. We d stay out and. play wh le they worshipped. VTe jest played marbles girls, white chillun and all. The Yankees come thoot and took all the meat and everything they could find. They took horses, food and. all. Mammy coolceci their vittles. One come in our cabin and took a sack of dried fruit ~rith ~y m~yt s shoes on the top. I tried to make tem leave xnarnmyts shoes too but he didntt. I stayed in the house with the vihitefolks till I was 19. They lak to kept me in there too lone. That s why Itm selfish as I a~. VTithin three weeks after I was out of the house, I married William Douglass. Thitefoiks nov; don t want you to tech teni, and. I slept with white chillun till I was 19. You kin cook for tem and put your hands in they vittles and they don t say nothing, but jest you tech one! Vie stayed on, on the place, three or four years and it was right then mammy give us our pappyt s name. ~e moved from the place to one three or four miles from our master s place, and. mammy cooked there a long time. Abraham Lincoln gits too much praise. I say, shucks, give God the praise. Lincoln come thoo Gallitan, Tennessee and sto~ped at Hotel Tavern with his wife. They was dressed jest lak tramps and nobody knowed it was him

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75 Oklahoma Writerst Project and. his wife till he got to the White House and writ back and told~ tem to bol: tt~j~t the leaves in the table where he had. set and they shot nuff found out it was him. ~ I never mentions Jeff Davis. He aintt viuff it. Booker T. ~Vashington was all right in his place. He come here and told these whitefoiks jest what he thou~t. Course he wouldntt have done that way do~rrn South. I declare to ~od he shot told tem enough. They toted hini ~ round on their hands. No Jim Crow here then. I jined the church tcause I had religion round 60 years ago. People oug~ta be religious sho ; what for they wanta live in sin and die and go to the Bad Man. To git to Heaven, you sho ou~tht to work some. I want a resting place somevthar, cause I aintt got none here. I a~i a member of Tabernacle Baptist Church, and I help build the first church in Oklahoma City. I got three boys and three girls . I dont t biow none e age. I give tern the best education I could.

Doc Daniel Dowdy. Age 81 yrs. 081 076

!~:~ ~ 350106 ~ . .. ~ Oklahoma Writers Proj ect v~ ~ ~ ~ ~3~Qi~X r~ ~ Age 8 . yi s. ~ Oklahoma City, Okiahoiria I was born. June 6, 1856 in Madison County, Georgia. Father was named Joe Do~vdy and mother was named Mary Dowdy. There was 9 of us boys, George, Smith, Lewis, Henry, William, myself, Newt, James ans. Jeff. There was one girl and she was my twin, and. her name was Sarah. My mother and father come from Richmond., Va., to G eorgia. Father lived on one side of the riverand my mother on. the other wide. My father would come over ever week to visit us. Noah Meadows bought my father and. Elizabeth Davis, daughter of the old master took my mother. They married in Noah Meadowst house.. My mother was the cook in the Big House. Theytd give us pot likker with bread crumbs in it. Sometimes meat, jest sometimes, very seldom. I liked black-.eyed peas and still do till now. We lived in weatherboarc3. house. Our parents had corded.-up beds with ropes and us chillun slept on the floor for most part or in a hole bored in a log. Our house had one window jest big enoi~zgh to stick your hea4 out of, and one door, and. this one door faced. the Big House which was yoi~r mast ~ ~ house . Thi s was so that you couldn1 t g t out tless somebody seen you. My job was picking up chips and. keeping the calves and. cows separate so that the calve s wouldn~ t suck the cows dry. Mostly, we had Saturday aft er~ noons off to wash. I was show boy d.oingthe war me and. my si ster~ ~ cause we was twins . My mother could n~Tbe bought ~ cause she done had. 9 boys for one farm and. neither my father, 1cause he was the father of tem. I was religious and. didn t play much, but I shd did. like to listen to preachings. I did. used. to play marbles sometimes.

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Oklahoma Vlriterst Project We jest wore shirts and. nothing else both winter and. summer. They was a little heavier in winter and. that1s all. No shoes ever, I had none till after I ~vas set free. I ~iess I was almost 12 years old. then. The overseer on our place was a large tall, black man. ~e had plenty poor white neighbors. They was one of our biggest troubles. They c3. allus look in our wind.ow and. door all the time. I saw slaves so1d~. I can see that olc1. block now. ~ cousin Eliza was a pretty girl, really good. looldng. Her mast~ was her father. When the girls in the big house had. beaux coming to see tem, theyd~ ask, ~Tho is that pretty gal? So they &ecid.ed. to git rid. of h r right away. The day they sold. here will allus be remembered. They stripped. her to be bid. off and. looked at. I wasn t allowed to stand in the crowd.. I was laying down und.er a fig brush. The man that bought Eliza was from New York. The Negroes had. made up fluff money to buy her off thef ~e1f, but they wouldntt let that happen. There was a man bidding for her who was a Swed.eland. He allus bid. for the good. looking cullud. gals and. botight em for his own use He ask the man from New York, ~Thut you gonna do with her when you git t~ The man from New York said., ~ None of your damn business, but you ain t got money fluff to buy ter.U Then the n~~n from New York bad dome bought her he said. Eliza you are free from flow on.~ She left and went to New York with him. Mama and Eliza both cried. when she was being sho~d. off, and. master told. em to shet up before he knocked they brains out, Iffen you &id.&t do nothing wrong, they whipped. ~ now and. then anyhow. I called. a boy Johnny once and. he took me thind the garden and. poured. it on me.and. n~d.e me call him mast~. It was from then on, I started. to fear the white man. I come to think of him as a bear. Sometimes fellows would. be a little late making it in and. they got whipped. with a cow hide. The same man

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78 Oklahoma ?Ii iterst Project whut whipped nie to make me call him niaster, well, he whipped i~y mamma. He tied. her to a tree and. beat her unn~erciful and. cut her tender parts. I don t know why he tied. her to that tree. The first time you. was caught trying to read or write, you was whipped with a cow~ hide, the next time with a cat o~ nine tails ai~d the third time they cut the first jint offen your forefinger. They was very severe. You most allus got 30 and 9 lashes. They carried. news from one plantation by whut they call relay. Iffen you was caught they whipped you till you said, Oh pray Ma One day a man gitt ing whipped was saying Oh pray mas t er Lord have mercy! They d say Keep whipping tlat nigger Goddamn him. He was whipped till he said, Oh pray Master, I gotta nuff. Then they said, Let him up now, ~ cause h ~ praying to the right man.~~ w~. father was the preacher and. an educated. man. You know the sermon they give hirn to preach? ~ Servant, Obey Yo~ur vaster. Our favorite baptizing hymn was On Jordants Stormy sank I Stand. My favorite song is Nobody Xnows the Trouble Itve Seen. Oh, them patrollers! They had a chief an& he glttem together and iffen they caught you without a pass and. sometimes with a pass, they d beat you. But iffen you had a pass, they had. to answer to the law. One old niaster had two slave s brothers on hi s place They was both preacher s Mitchell was a bardehell BaIi~i st and. Andrew was a Miss tonary Bapti et . One ~ay the patroller chief was rambling thoot the place and. found some letters writ to Mitchell and. Andrew. He went to the master and. said, ~ you know you had some niggers that could read. and. write? Master said., No, but I might have, who do you ~ spect? The patroller answered Mi tchell and. Andrew. ~ The old. master said., tI never knowed. Andrew to tell me a lie Ibout nothing!

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Oklahoma Writers~ Project ~ -.4... 179 Mi~bche11 was called first and. asked could he read. and. write. He was scared stiff. He said, Naw sir. Andrew was called and asked. He said, Yes~sir. U He waz asked iffen Mitchell could. He said, Sho bettert n me The master told John Arnold, the patroller chief, not to bother oem. He gloried in they spuxik. ~hen the old master died, he left all of his niggers a home apiece. We had Ku Klux Kians till the government sent Federal officers out and put a stop to their ravaging and sent tem to Sing Sing. Doing the war my father was carpenter. His young master corne to him I cause he was a preacher and asked him must he go to the front ar~& my father told him not to go tcause he wouldn t make it. He wenton jest the saine and when he come back my father Lad to tote him in the house ~cause h~ had one le~ t ore off. The Yankee s come thoo ~ ramshacked house s leave poor horses and. take fat ones and. turn the poor ones in. the corn they left. They took ever-~ thing they could.. They cus s~ ~igger s who dod~.ged em for b eing fools and make t em show t em everything they knowed. whar was. Our old master was mighty old and him and. the women folks cried when. we was freed, He told. us we was free as he was. I come to Oklahoma in. 1906. I come out of that riot in 1906. Some fellow knocked UI) a colored. woman or something and. we waded. right in and. believe me we macle Atlanta a fit place to live in. It is 011e of the best cities in ~America. I married. Miss Einmalin.e Witt. I carried her to the preacher one of the colde st night s I ever rid.. I have three chillun and. don t know how many grandehillun. ~r chillun is one a nurse, one In Arizona for his health and. the other doing first one thing and. another. I think Abraham Lincoln was the greatest human being ever been on

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~- 80 Ok1a1ion~a Writers ~ Proj ect earth tcepting the Apostle Paul. Who az~y bettertn a man who liberated. 4,000,000 Negroes? Some said~ he wasnt a Christian, but he told. some friencb once, I m coing to leave you and may never see you again (and. he didn t) so I~m going to take the Divine Spir it with me an~ leave it with you. Jeff Davis tias as bloody as he could be. I clontt lak him a tall. But you know good things come from enemies. I c1on~t even ad.mire George V ashington. White men from the south that will help the Negro is far and. few between. Booker T. Washington was a great man. He macle some blunders and. mistakes, but he wa~ a great man. He is the father of industrial ed.ucation and you know that shot is a great thing. The white folks was ignorant. You know the better you prepare your self the better you act. Iffen they had. put some sense ifl our heads ~stead of sticks on our heads, we ud. been better off and. more benefit to rem. I had something from within that made me fear God. and. taught me how to pray. People say God. done t hear sinners pray but he d.o . Everyb od.y ought to be O.hristians so not to be lost. I work in real estate and. can d.c a lot of work. I don t use no crut che s and. no cane and. walk all the t me never hardly ride . I come in at 1 and. 2 otclock a. m. and. get up between 8 and. 9 a. m. cept Sundays, I get up at 7 or 8 a. ni. so I can be ready to go to Sunday School. I cook for my own self all the time too. I am a Baptist and. a member of Tabernacle Baptist Church. I am a trust ee in my church too.

Joanna Draper. Age 83 yrs. Tulsa, Okla. 086 081

35oD~: 4 Oklahoma Writers Project Ex s1a~r~s AUG191937 ~ . JOANNA DRAPER Age 83 yrs. Tulsa, Okia. Mo s t folks can~ t remem o er many things happened. to em when they oniy eight years old, but one of my biggest tribulations come about dat time and I never will forget iti That was when I was took away from my own mammy and. pappy and. sent off an . bound out to another man, way off two three hundred. miles away from whar I live. And d.at s the 1a~ time I ever see either one of them, or any my own hnfolks! Whar I was born was at Hazelhurst, Mississippi. Jest a little piece east of Hazelhurst, close to the Pearl River, and that place was a kind. of new plantation what my Master, Dr. Alexan&er, bought when he moved into Mississippi from up in Virginia awhile before the War. They said. mi mamms~ brings me down to Mississippi, and I was born jest right after she got there. My mamrny1s name was Margaret, and. she was born wider the Ramson~s, back in Tennessee. She belonged to Dave Ramson~ and his pappy had. come to Tennessee to settle on war land, and he had knowed Dr. Alexanders people back in Virginia too. My pappyts name was Addison, and he always b elongeci to Dr. Alexander. Old. doctor bought my mammy cause my papp~ liked her. Old doctor live in Tennessee a little while before he go on down in Mississippi. Old doctorts wife named Dinah, and she shot was a good woman, but I dontt remember about old doctor much. He was away all the time, it seem like.. ~~: ~ When I is about six year old. they take me into tue Big House to learn to be ~ house woman, ax~ they show me how to cook and. clean up and. take

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Oklahoma ~7riterst Project i2 82 care of babies. That Big House wasntt very fine, but it was mighty big and. cool, and. made out of logs with a big hail, but it didntt have no long gallery like most the houses around there had. They was lots of big trees in the yard, and. most the ground was new ground round that place, ~cause the old. Doctor jest started to done farm~ ing on it when I was took away, but he had some more places not so far away, over towards the river that was old. ground and. made big crops for him. I went to one of the places one time, but they wasnt t nobody on ~ ein but niggers and a white overseer. I dOfltt know how many niggers old Doctor I~d, but Master John Deeson say he had. about a hundred. At old. Doctor s house I didn t have to work very hard. Jest had to help the cooks and. peel the potatoes and pick the guineas and chickens and. do things like that. Sometime I had to watch the baby. He was a little boy, and they would bring him into the kitchen for me to watch. I had to git up way before daylight arid make the fire in the kitchen fireplace and. bring in some fresh water, and go get the milk what been down in the spring all night, and. do things like that until breakfast ready. Old. Master and. old. Mistress come in the big hall to eat in the summer, and. I stand. behind. them and shoo S ff the flies. ~ ~ . . Old. doctor d.idn1t hav~e no spinning and weaving nigge rs tcause he say they dont t do . enough work and. he biy all~ the cloth he use for everybody s : clothes. He can do that 1cause he had. lots of money. He was big rich, and. ~:. he keep a whole 1~t of hard. money in the house all the time, but none of the slaves know, it but me. Sometimes I would have the baby in the Mistre~1 room ;~. and: she..would. gogit three ~ or. . four big wood. boxes full of hax~d. money for us to play with. I woi.tld make fences out of the money all across the floor, to keep the baby satisfied, and ~ahen he go to sleep I would. put the money back in

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83 Oklahoma ~7riters Project the boxes. I never did. know how much they is, but a whole lot. 01~~ I~ven after the War start ~ ~octor have t ~at money, and. he would excliange money for people. Sometimes he would go out and be gone a long time, and come back ~rith a lot more money he got from soinewhar. Right at the first they made him a high officer in the War and he done doctoring sornewh~r~ at a hospital mOst of the time. But he could go on both sides of the ~Var, and sometime he would come in at night and bring old Mistress pretty little things, and I heard him tell her he got them in the North. One ~i~-~y I was fanning hirn and I asked him is he been to the worth and he kick oi~t at zie and tell~ to shut up my black mouth, and. it nearly scared me to death the way he look at me! Nearly every time he been gone and cone in and tell Mistress he been in the I~orth he have a lot more hard money to put away in them boxes, too! One evening long come a man and eat supper at the house and stay all night. He was a nice mannered man, and I like to wait on him. The next morning I hear him ask old Doctor what is my name, and old Doctor start in to try to sell me to that man. The man say he cans t biy me ~ cause old Doctor say he want a thousand dollars, and. then old Doctor say he will bind. me out to him. I run away from the house and went out to the cabin whar my ma~y and Dappy was but they tell me to go on back to the Big House ~ cause maybe I am just scared. But about that time old Doctor and the man come and old Doctor make me go with the man. Vie go in his buggy a long ways off to the South, and after he stop two or three night at peoples houses and put me out to stay with the niggers he come to his own house. I ask him how far it is back home and he say about a hundred miles or more, and laugh, and ask me if I know how far that is.

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Oklahoma Writers Project ~ 84 I wants to know if I can go back to my mammy some time, and he say Sh~ , of course you can, some of these times. You don t ieion~ to me, Jo, I1se jest your boss and. not your master. He live in a bi~ o1~ rottencly house, but he amt farming none of the land. Jest as soon as he git home he goc~off again, and. sometimes he only come in at night for a little while. Hj5 wifets name was Kate and his name was Mr. John. I was there about a week before I found out they name was Deeson. They had.~two children, a girl about my size name Joanna like me, and a little baby boy name Johnny. One day Mistress Kate tell me I the only nigger they got. I been thinking maybe they had some somewhar on a plantation, but she say they amt got no plantation and they amt been at that place very long either. That little girl Joanna and me kind of take up together, and. she was a mighty nice mannered little girl, too. Her mammy raised her good. Her mammy was mighty sickly all the time, and. thatts the reason they bind me to do the work. Mr. John was in some kind. of business in the War too, but I never see him with no soldier clothes on but one time. One night he come in with them on, but th next morning he come to breakfast in jest his plain. clothes again. Then he go off again. I shot had a hard~ r w at that . It was old and rackady, and I had to scrub off the staircase and the floors all the time, and git ~ the breakfast for Mistress Kate and the two children. Then I could have my own breakfast in thekitche . Mistress Kate always get the supper, though. Some days she go off with the two children and leave me at the . house all day by myself, and I think maybe I rim off, but I didn~t 1~tow whar to go.. . . . ~ .After I been t that place two years Mr. John come home and stay.

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85 Oklahoma Writers project He done some kind. of trading in Jackson, Mississip,~i, and he wouJ be gone three or four days at a time, but I never did imow viLat kind. of trading it was. About the time he corne home to stay I seen the, first Ku Klux I ever seen one night. I was going aown the road in the moonlight end. I heard. a hog grunting out in the bushes at the si e of the road.. I jest~wa1k right on and. in a little ways I hear another hog in some more bushes. This time I stoD and~ listen, and. they s another hog grunts across the road, and. about that time two mens dressed UI) in long white sidrts steps out into the road. in front of mel I was so scared. the goose bi~mps jump up all over me cause I d.g~~ imow what they isL They didn t say a word to ne, but jest walked on Dast me and. went on back the way I had come. Then I see two more mens step out of the woods and. I rim from that as fast as I can go! I act Miss Kate what they is and. she say they Ku Klux, and. I better not go walking off down the road any more. I seen them two, three times after that, though, but they was riding hosses them times. I stayed at Mr. John s place two more years, and. he got so grimpy and. his rife got so mean I make up my mind. to run off. I bundle up my clothes in a little bund.le and hide them, and. then I wait until Miss Kate take the children and. go off somewhere, and. I light oat on foot. I bad. me a piece of that hard. money what Master Dr. Alexander had. give me one time at Christmas. I had. kept it all that t me and. nobody knowei I had. it not even Joanna. Old. Doctor told. me it wa~3 fifty dollars, and. I thought I could. live on it for a while. . I never had. been away from tbat place, not even to another plant ation in all the four years I was with the Deesons, and. I didntt know which a way to ~o, so I jest started. west.

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Oklahoma Writers Project -6~. 86 I been wa1kin~a oout all evening/ it seem like and I come to a little town with jest a few houses. I see a nigger man and. ask him whar I can git something to eat, and. I say I got fifty dollars. What you doing wid fifty dollars, child? lYhere you belong at, anyhow? He ask me, and I tell him I belong to Master John Deeson, but I is running away. I explain that I jest bound. out to Mr. John, but Dr. Alexander my- real master, and than that man tell me the first time I 1~owe . it that I amt a slave no morel That man Deeson never did tell me, and his wife never did! ~ell, dat man asked nie about the fifty dollars, and then I f oimd. out that it was jest fifty cents! I cantt begin to tell about all the hard. times I had working for something to eat and roaming around. after that. I dontt 1~iow why I never did try to git back up aroimd Hazelh~rst and hunt up my pappy and m~y, but I reckon I was j e st ignorant and. didZLt t know how to go ab out it . inyways I never did see them no more. ~ In about three years or a little over I met Bryce Draper on a farm in Missi s sippi and. we was married. Hi s mammy 1~ad had. a harder t ime than I had. She bad five children by a man that b elong t o her mast er Mr . Bryce and. al ready named one of the boys that my husband ~ Bryce after him, and. then he take her in and~ sell her off away from all her children! One was jest a little baby, and the master give it laudantim, but it clidn1 t di e and. he sold her off and lied and said she was a young gi ri and. didXLt t have no husband., ~ cause the man what bo~ht ~ her said. he dIdnt t want to btiy no woman and. take her away from a family. That new master nam was Draper. The last year of the War Mr . Draper die and. his wife already dead., a~ he ~tve all bis farm to his two slaves and. set them free. One o~ them

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Oklahoma Vlrlters Project -7 87 slaves was my husbandts mammy. Then right away the whites come and. robbed. the place of every thing ~ they could haul off and run hi s mamu~y and. the o ther ni~gers off I Then she went ~id found. her boy, that vias my husband, and. he live with her until she died, jest before we is married. ~Ve lived in Mississippi a long time, and then we hear about how they better to the Negroes up in the North, and we go up to Kansas, but they aintt no better there, an~ we come down to Indian Territory in the Creek Nation in 1898, jest as they getting in that Spanish War. ~Te leased a little farm from the Creek Nation for $15 an acre, but when they give out the allotments we had to give it up. Then we rent 100 acres from some Indians close to Wagoner, and we farm it all with my family. We had enough to do lt tooI For children we had Jo)in and Joe, and Henry, and. Jim and. Robert and. Will that was big enough to work, and. then the girls big enough was Mary, Nellie, Izora, Dora, and the baby. Dora married Max Coroert. His people belonged to the Colberts that had Colbertts ~rossint on the Red River way before the War, and he was a freedman and go~ allotment. I lives with Dora now, and we is all happy, and. I dontt like to talk about the days of the slavery t ines ~ cause they never did mean no thing to me but misery, from the time I~ was eight years old. I never will forgive that white man foii not telling me I was free, and. not helping me to git back to my mammy and. pappyl Lots of white people done that. S

Mrs. Esther Easter. Age 85 yrs. Tulsa, Okla. 093 088

350052 Oklahoma Writers Project 88 Ex S1a~~es~ ~ES~R~ LtS~ ~ .A~ge 85 yrs. Tulsa, Ok .a. I was born near Memphis, Term., on the old. Ben Moore plantation, but I &on t know anything about the Old. South because Master Ben moves us aU up into Missouri (about 14~miles east of Westport, now ICansas City), long be fore they started. fighting about slavery. Mary Collier was my mother s name before she was a Moore. About my d.unno . ~vrammy was sickly mo st of the Urne when I was a baby and thin and poorly when they move to Missouri the white folks afraid die on the way. But she fool em, and she live two three year after that. That1s good. Old Master Ben tells me when I gets older. I stay with Master Bents married. daughter, Mary, till the coming of the War. Times was good before the ~a~~and I wasntt suffering none from slavery, except once in a while the Mistress would fan me with the stick bet I needed it, too. When the ~ar come along Master he say to leave Mistress Mary and. get ready to go to Texas. Jim 1~oore, one of the meanest m n I ever sea, was the son of Master Ben; hets goii~g take us there. Demon Jim, ha s what I cal). him when he am1 t round the place, . but when he s home it was always Master Jim ~ cause he was reckless with the whip . ~e was a Rebel officer fighting round the country and. didnt t take us ~ ~ slaves to Texas right awa~y. So I stayed on at his place not far from Master ~ ~ Bee..! s plantation. ~ ~ . ~ ~ Mas1~r jim~ s . wife was ~ a demon, just like her husband.. tYsed the whip L ~ aU the time a~ every ti~ie M ~ster Jim come home he whip me ~ cause the father, I she was so she going what

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Oklahoma Writers Project . . 2~~ 89 Mistress say I been mean. One time I te . . him, you better pu~t me in your pocket (sell me), Master Jim, else I se going rim away1. He .on t pay no mind., and I don~t try to run away ~ cause of the whips . I done see one whipping and. timt enoi~gh. They wa~ntt no fooling about it. A runaway slave from the Jenkin1s plantation was broi.ight back, and. there was a public whipping, sois the slaves could. see what happens when they tries to get away. The runaway was chained to the whipping post, and I was full of mi sery when I see the lash cutting d.eep into that boy ~ ~k ii, He swell up like a dead. horse, but he gets over it, only he was never no count for work no more, while Master Jim is out fighting the Yanks, the Mistress is. fiddling round with a neighbor man, Mister Headsmith. I is young then, but I knows enongh that Master Jim ~ going be mighty mad when he hears about it. The Mistress didn t know I knows her secret, and Vin fixing to even up for some of them whippings she put off on me. That s w1~y. I tell Master Jim next ~time he come home. See that crack in the wall? Master Jim say yes, and I say, its just like the open door when the eyes are close to the wall. He peek and see into the bedroom. Thatts how I find. out bout the Mistress and. Mister Head.smith, I tells him, and I see hets getting mad. . . What you mean? And. Master Jim g~ abs~me hard by the arm like I was trying to get away. . I . see them in the bed. ~ ~ . . . ~ That1 s all I say. The Demon s got him and Master Jim tears out of

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Oklahoma Writers Project -.3 9() the room looking for the Mistress. Then I hears loud. talking and. pretty soon the Mistress is screaming and. calling for help, and. if old. Master Ben hadn~t drop in just then. and. stop the fight why, I guess she be beat almost to death, that how mad. the Master was. . . Then Master Ben gets mad. tcause his boy Jim aintt got Texas yet. Then we stay up all the night packing for the trip. takes us, but the Mistress stay at home, and~ I wonder if Master again when he gets back. Vie rid.es the wagons all the way how many days I d~uimo The country was wild. most of the way, and. I know now that we come throngh the same country where I lives now, only it was to the east. (The trip was evi clently made over the Texas Road. And we keeps on riding and. comes to the big river thatts all brown and. red. looking, (Red. River) and. the next thing I was sold. to Mrs. Vaughn at Bonham, Texas, arid. there I stays till after the slaves is free. The new Mistress was a widow, no children round. the place, and. she treat me mighty good. She was good. white folks like old. Master Ben, powerful good.. When the word. get to us that the slaves is free, the Mistress says I is free to go anywheres I want. And. I tell her this talk about being free sounds like foolishment to me ax~yway, where can I go? She just p~a.t me on the should.er and. say I better stay right there with her, and. thatts what I do for a lomg time. Then 1 hears about how the white folks down at Dalles pays big money for house girls and. there I goes. ~ ~ Tha1 s. all I ever d.o after that work at the houses till I gets too old. to hobble on these tired. old. feets and. legs, then I just sits d.own. us d.own in Master Jim ~~:im beat her

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Oklahoma Writerst Project ~ Just sits down and. wishes for old. Master Ben to come and. get me, and. take care of this old. woman like he use to do when she is ju.st a little black child. on the plantation in Missouri! God. Bless old. Master Ben he was good white folks!

Eliza Evans. 097 092

350064 Oklahoma V riterst Project Ex- Slaves. 92 . ~:~iZL EVA~TS Age 87 Mcilester, Okia, I sho1 remembei de days when I was a slave and belonged to de best old Master what ever was, Mr. John Mixon. V~e lived in Selma, Dallas County, Alabama. My grandma was a refugee from Africa. You know dey was vthite men who went slipping tround and would capture or entice black folks onto their boats and fetch them over h~re and sell tem for slaves. Vieil, ~randxna was a little ~iri ~bout eight or nine years old a~nd her parents had sent her out to get wood. Dey was going to have a feast. Dey was going to roast a baby. Vlasn t that awful? Vieil, they caDtured her and -out a stick in her mouth. The stick held her mouth wide open so she wouldn t cry out. Then she got to de boat she was so tired out s)~.e didntt do nothing. . They was a lot of more 4olored folks on de boat. It ~ok about four months to get across on de boat and Mr. John LIixon met the boat and. bought her. I think he gave five hundred dollars for her. She was named. Gigi, but Master John called her Gracie. She was so good. and they thought so much of her dat they gave her a grand. ~edding when she was married. Master John told her hetd never sell none of her chillun. He kept dat -oro mise and he never did sell any of her grandchillun either. He thought it was wrong to separate fambiys. She was one hundred and three years old when she died. I guess her minci got kind of feeble ~ cause she wandered off and fell into a mill race and was drowned. Master John Mixon had two big ~lantations. I believe he owned. about four hundred slaves, chillun and. all. He allowed us to have church one time a month with de white folks and we had prayer meeting every Sunday. Some- times when de men would do something like being sassy or lazy and. dey knowed

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Oklahoma Writers1 Project ~ 93 dey was sonna be whipped, dey d slip off and. hide in de woods. ~ien dey d slip back to get some food dey would all pray- for em dat Master wouldn t have tern vthiDDed too hard, and for fear the Patroller would hear ~em they d :put their faces down in a dinner pot. I d sit out and watch for the Patroller. He was a white man who was appointed to catch runaway niggers. ~e all knew hirn. His name was Howard Campbell. He had a bi~ pack of dogs. The lead hound was na~ned Venus. There was five or six in the rack, and the~r was vicious too. My father was a carriage driver and he ailus t~o1c the f~mi1y to church. My mother went along to take care of the little chilluns. She d take rae too. They was Methodist and. after they woi~1d take the sacrament vie would allus go up and. take it. The niggers could use the whitefolks church in the afternoon. De Big House was a grand place. It was a two~story house made out of logs dat had. been peeled and smoothed. off. There was five bi~ rooms and a bi~ open hail wid a wide front porch clean across de front. De ~~orch had big posts and pretty banisters. It was painted white and had green shutters on de windows. De kitchen was back of de Big House, De slaves quarters was about a quarter of a mile from de Big House. Their houses was made of logs and the cracks was daubed with mud.. They would have two rooms. Our bedsteads was made of poplar wood and we kept them scrubbed white with sand. We used roped woven together for slats. Ou~ mattresses were ma~e of cotton, grass, or even shucks. My mother had a feather bed. The chairs was made from cedar with split white oak bottoms. Each family kept their own home and cooked and. served their own meals. We used wooden trays and wooden spoons. Once a week all the cullud. chillun went to the Big House to eat dinner. The table was out in de yard.

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Olc .alioma Writerst Project .~ .~. 94 ~y nickname was Speck . I d.ithi~ t like to eat bread and. milk when I went up there and I d. just sit there. Finally they cI let nie go in de house ana ~y mother would feed. me. She was the house woman and. my Auntie was cook. I doii1t know why they had. us up there unless it was so they could laugh at us. None 0 old. Masterts young ni~gers never did. much work. He say he want tein to grow up strong. He gave us lots to eat. He had a store of bacon, milk, bread, beans and. molasses. In summer we had vegetables. My mother could make awful good corn pone. She woulc~ take meal and. put salt in it and potir boiling water over it and. make into pones. She d~rrap these pones in wet cabbage or collard leaves and roll dein into hot ashes and bake dein. They sho1 was good. W&d have possum and coon and fish too. - The boys never wore no britches in de sununer time. Boys fifteen years old would wear lone shirts with no sleeves and. they went barefooted. De girls dressed in shinmiys. They was a sort of dress with two seams in it and no sleeves. . . Old. Master had his slaves to get up about five o clock. Dey did an ordinary dayt ~ work. He never whipped them unless they was lazy or sassy or had a fight. Sometimes his slaves would run away but they allus come back. We didnt have no truck with railroaders tcause we like our home. A woman cussed my mother and it made her mad ancithey had a fight. Old Master had. them both whipped. My mother got ten licks and. de other woman got twenty- fiveQ Old Mistress shot was mad. teauso mother got whipped. Said he woulcl&t have done it if she had known it. Old Mistre3s taught mother how to read and write and mother taught my father. I went to school jest one day so I cant t read and write now. ~ ~ Weddings was big days. ~e1d he,ve big dinners and dances once in a

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- ~ ~. whi1e~hen somebody died they d hold. a wake. They d sit up all night and sine and pray and talk. At midni~it they d sei~e sandwiches and. coffee. Sometimes wetd all get together and play ring plays and dence, Once the Yankee soldiers come. I was big enough to tote pails and piggins then. These soldiers made us chillun tote water to fill their can teens and water their horses. We toted the water on our heads. Another time we heard the Yankeets was coming and old-Master had about fifteen hundred r~ounds of rn~at. They was hauling it off to bury it and hide it when the Yankees caught them0 The soldiers ate and. wasted every bit of that good meat. ~1e did&t like them a bit. One time some Yankee soldiers sto:oped and started talking to me -~ they asked me what my name was. ~I say Liza, and they say, Liza who? I thought a minute and.I shook my head., Jest Liza, I ain t got no other name.~~ He say, Who live up yonder in dat Big I say, Mr. John Mixon. He say, You are Liza Mixon.~~e He say, Do anybody ever call you nigger? And I sa~r, Yes Sir. He Say, Next time anybody call you nigger you tell ~ em dat you is a Negro and your name is Miss Liza Mixon. The more I thought of that the more I liked it and I made up my mind. to do jest what he told me to. My job was minding the calves back while the cows was being milked. One evening I was minding the calves and. old. Master come along. He say, tWhat you domt itt I say real pert 1 ike ~ I am t no nigger, ~ se a Negro and Itm Miss Liza Mixon. Old. Master sho was surprised and he picks up a switch and starts at me, Law, but I was skeered.! I hadn t never had no whipping so I ru.n fast as I can to Grandma Gracie. I hid behind her and she say, That s the matter of you And. I say, ~Master John gwine whip mtt And she say, Oklahoma V ri.ters Project 95

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Oklahoma Writerst Project ~~: 96 That you done?t And. I say, Nothing. ~ She say she know better and. thout that time Master John got there. He say, t1~racie, dat little nigger sas~ed me. ~ She say, Lawsie child, what does ail you? I told. them what the Yankee soldier told me to say and Grandma Gracie took my dress and. lift it over ray head and. pins my hands inside, and Lawsie, how she whiDpe& me and I classent holler loud either. I jest said datAde wrong ~ersondn ~t~-i-7 Vse getting old now and cantt work nomore. I jest sits here and. thinks about old times. They was good. times. We didntt want to b~e freed. ~7e hated the Yankee soldiers . Abe Lincoln wasa good man though, wasn t he? I ~ries to be a good. Christian tcause I wants to go to Heaven when I die.

Lizzie Farmer. Age 80 years. McAlester, Okla. 102 097

50098 Oklahoma Writers Project . Ex~-S1ay~s ~ LIZZ~IE PA~~L~ Agei8O years McAlester, Okia. Cousin Lizzie! ttThat U ttI1se seventy years old.11 ~ And I say, 11~hut s you telling me for.~ I aintt got nothing to do wi th your a~e ! I Imowed I was one year older than she was and it sorta riled me for her to talk about it. I never would tell folks my age for I knowed. thiite folks did.n1t wart no old woman working for 1em and I just wouldntt tell tem how old I really was. Dat was nine years ago and I guess I m seventy five now. I cantt work much now. ~: was born four years before de ear. ~ 11The one what set the culluc3. folks free.~ Vie lived on a big Dlantation in Texas, Old Master s name was John Booker and h9 was good. to us all. My mammy died just at de close of de ~7ar and de young mistress took me and kept me and I growed. up with her chillun. I thought I was quality sure nuff and I never would go to school tcause I couldntt go long to de same school with de white chillun. Young mistress taught me how to knit, spin, weave, crochet, sew and embroider. I could&t recollect my age and young Mistress told me to say, ~I, se born de second year of de ~ ar dat set de cullucl folks free, ~ and the only time she ever git mad at me was when I forgot to say it jest as she told me to. She take hold of me and shook me. I recollects all it, all de time. Young mistress1 name was Eliz&eth Bo~ker McNevr. finally gave me to my aunt when I was a ~ig girl folks any more. I never saw my pappy till I was - . S . ~ ~L \)~~ Itse and I growii. named aft er never lived her, She wid white

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OIc1ajio~ Writers1 Project 2~. 98 In the cullud quarters, we cooked on a fireplace i.n big iron pots. Our bread was baked in iron skillets with lids and. we wouH set the skillet oIl de fire and. put coals of fire on de lid. Bread was mighty good cooked. like dat. ~e made our own candles. We had. a candle mold. and we would put a string in the center of the m ld. and puur melted. tallow in it and. let it harden. ~Te would make eight at one time. ~txality folks had. brass iamps. When we went to cook our vegetables we would i~ut a big piece of hog jowl in de pot. ~etd put in a lot of snap beans and when dey was about half done wet d. put in a nies s of cabbage and when it was about half done wet d. put in some squash and. when it was about half do~ie we d. put in some okra. Then when it was done we would t8ke it out a layer at a time. o I~c~y~ It makes me hungry to talk about it, Then we cooked. possum dat was a feast. We would skin him and. d.ress him and put him on top de house and let him freeze for tv o days or nights. Then wetd boil him with red. pepper, and. take him out and. put him in a pan and slice sweet taters and. put round. him and. roast him. My, dat was good. eating. It was a long time after de War tfore all de niggers knowed dey was really free. My grandpappy was Master Booker s overseer. He would&t have a white man over hi s niggers. I saw grandpappy whip one man with . a long whip. Master Booker was good and wouldntt whip em lesstn he had. to. De niggers dassent leave de farm without a pass for fear of de Ku I u~ers and. patrolers. We would have dances and play parties and have sho1 nuff good. times. We had. ~ ring plays . t cl. all cat oh hands and. march round, den d. drop all hands ~ cept our pardners and. wet d swing round. and sing

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- 3.. You steal my pardner, and. I steal yours, Miss Mary Jate. My true 1over~ gone away, Miss Mary Jane! - . ~Stea1 all round and don1 t slight none, Miss Mary Jane. He s lost out but Itse got one, Miss Mary Jane! ~ e always played at 1o~ .rollint s ant cotton pickin s. Sometimes we would have a wedding and. my what a good time we d have. Old Master1 s daughter, Miss Janie, got married and. it took us mores ~ three weeks to get ready for it. De house was cleaned from top t~o bottom and. us chillun had to run errands. Se~mied like we was allers under Loot, at least dat was what rnamniy said. I never will fergit all the good. things they cooked up. Rows of pies and. cakes, baked. chicken and. ham, my, it makes n~r mouth water jest thinkingof it. After de wedding and de feast de white folks danced all night and. us culluci folks ate all ni~ght. . When one of de cullud. folks d~.e we would allers hold. a wake. ~ Y~ e would set up with de corpse and sing and pr~.y and. at mid.night wetd. all eat and. den we d. sine and. pray some more. In de evening after work was done wetd sit round and. de older folks would sine songs. One 0 de favorltGs was: t~Miss Ca1line gal, Yes Ma am Did you see de~ buzzards? Yes Mataxa, Did. you see dem floppin, How did. y& ~ like Mighty well. 11Miss Catline gal, Yes Ma~i, Did. you see dein buzzards? Yes Ma ean, Did. you see dem sailing, Yes Ma am. How did. you . ike em? Mi~ity well. Oklahoma Wr terst Project 99

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Oklahoma ~riters1 Project -4~ lOt) I1ve heereci folks talk about conjures and. hoodoo charms. I have a hoss shoe over de door dat will bring good luck. I shot dobelieve cer tain things bring bad luck. I hate to hear a ecrinch ( screech) owl holier at night. Whenever a scrinch owl git in dat tree at night and. start to holler I gits me a stick and I say, Confound you, I ll make yet set up dar and say Umph huht,tt ~ I goes out and time I gits dar b~e is gone. If you tie a knot in de corner of de bed sheet he will leave, or turn your hat wrong side out too. Dey s all good and. will make a scrinch owl leave every time. I believes in dreams and visions too. I dreamed one night dat I had tail palings all t3~0~ my house and I went out in de yard. and. dere was a big black hoss and I say, How come you is in niy yard? I ll jest ~ut you out. jest lak you got in. ~ I opened de gate but he wouldn t go out and finally he run in de door and through the house and ~v~ ent towards de East, Right after dat my son died. I saw dat hoes again de other night. A black hoss allus means death. Seeing it de other night might mean Itse gwineter die. I 1~aow one time a woman named May Runneis wanted to go to church about a mile away and her old man wouldnt t go with her. It made her mad and. she say, iII t il be dammed if I don. t go. She had to go through a grave yard. and. when she was about half way across it a icy hand jest slap her and her mouth was twi st ed. way ~ round fer about three months. Dat was a le eson to her fer cussing. One time there was a nigger what belonged. on a adjoining farm to Master John Bookers and. dey told. us dis story Dis nigger went down to de spring and. found a terrapin and. he say, ttThat brung you here? Jest imagine how he felt when it say to him, Teeth and. tongae brung me here, and teeth and tong~ie will bring you here.~ He run

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Oklahoma Writerst Project to de house and. told. his Master dat he found a terrapin dat could talk. Dey went back and he asked de terrapin what bring him here and it woul&n t say a word. Old. Master clidnt t like it ~ cause he went down there jest to see a common ordinary terrapin and. he told de nigger he was going to ~it into trouble fer telling him a lie. Next day the ntg~er seen de terrapln and it say de saine thing again. Soon after dat 1s nigger was lynched right close to de place he saw de terrapin. Master John Booker had two niggers what had. a habit of slipping across de river and killing old Master s hogs and hiding de meat ~n de loft of de house. Master had a big blue hog and one day he missed him and he sent Ned to look fer him. i~Ted. knowed all de time dat he had killed it and had it hid in his loft. He hunted and. called tPig ooie, Pig. Somebody done stole old. Mastert~ big blue hog. Dey couldn t find. it but old Master thoughtNed. knowed something bout it. One night he found out Ned. was gonna kill another hog and. had asked John to go vrith him. He borrowed John s clothes and blacked his faceand met Ned. at de river, Soon dey find. a nice big one and Ned. say, Joh~, I ll drive him round and you kill him.~ So he drove him past old Master but he didn t want to kill his own hog so he made lai: het& like to kill him but he missed him. Finally Ned got tired and said. I ll kill him, you drive him by me.~ So Master John drove him by him and. Ned. knock de hog on de head. and ~ut his throat and dey load him on de canoe. ~Jhen dey was nearly tcross de river Old Master dip up some water and wash his face a little, then he look at Ned. and. he say, i~ed you look sick, I believe youtve got lepersy. Ned row on little more and he j ump in de river and Master had a hard time finding him again. He had the overseer whip Ned. for that. ~ ~ I think Lincoln was a wonderful man. ~verybody was sorry when he ~ . died, but I never heerd. of Jeff Davis. -5~ 101

Della Fountain. Age 69 years. McAlester, Oklahoma. 107 102

!!r:~ ~ ~ 350080 Oiclahoma Writers Project ~ Ex~S ~Ves . lO 19..38 1,876 ~ words Age 69 years ~ MoAlester, Oklahoma I was born after de W~r of de Rebellion but I meniber lots. o~ things dat li1~ Darents told. me tbout slavery. My grandmother was cpptured in Africa.. Traders come d.ere in a big boat and dey had. all sorts of ~urty ge1~gaws ~ red handkerchiefs, dress goods, beads, bells, and trinkets in bright colors. Dey would pull up at de shore and entice de colored folks onto de boat to see de ~rnrty things. Befo de darkies realized it dey would be out from shore. Dat s de way she was captured~ Fifteen to twenty~ five would pay dem for de trip as dey all brought good prices. I was born and. raised in Louisiana, near Winfield. My mother s Master was John Bogers eM his wife was M18~ Millie. Dey was awfifl good to deir slaves and he never ~hupped his grown niggers. I 1member when I was a Child. dat we didiitt have hardly anything to keep house wid, but we got along purty well I guess. Our furnitw~ e was home~ made and. we cooked on de fireplace. We saved all our oak wood ashes, end would put a barrel on a slanting scaffold and put sticks and. shucks in de bottom of de . barrel and. den fill i t wi& de ashes. t d. pour water in ~ it and. let i. t drip . ~ Dese drippings made pure lye. ~e used. dis wid. cracklirtgs and. meat scraps to rn~ke our soap. Fathertooka g od- sized pine long and split it open, planed it down smooth bored ~ h61e~ in de bottom and. drove pegs in dem for legs; dis was oi~r battling

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. ~ . . ~ ~ Oklahoma Writerst Project Della 1~ountain 2~ bench. Wetd si~read our wet clothes on dis and rub soap on 1em and take a paddle cnd. beat de &irt out. We got ~em clean but had. to be careful not to wear tem out wid de paddle. ~ ~e had. no tubs either, so father took a hollow log and split lt open and put partitions in it. He bored a hole In each section and drove a peg in it. He next cut two fori~ed poles and. drove tem in de ground eM rested de ends of de hollow log lii dese forks. V(e d fill de log trough wid. water and rinse oi~r clothes. We could pull out de pegs arid let de water out. We had no broo~s either, so we made brush brooms to sweep our floors. Dere wa~ lots of wild game near our home. I tmember father and. two more men going out and killing six deer ln~jest a little while. Dey was plentiful, and. so was squirrels, coon, possums and qua~l. Dere was lots of bears, too. We d be in de field working and hear de dogs, and. father and de boys would go to tem and maybe dey1d have a bear. We liked bear meat. It was dark, but awful good. arid sweet. De grown folks used to have big times at log rollings oorn-~shuckings arid quiltings. Deytd. have a big supper and a big dance at night. Us children would. play ring plays~ play with home made rag dolls,. or we d take big leaves and pin ~em together wid thorns and make hats and dresses. We d ride sapllng~, too. All of u~ would pull a sapling down and. one would climb up In it near de top and git a good hold. on it, and. ~dey wo~1d turn it loose. It took a p urty good holding to stay wid. it, I can tell you. ~ . . All de ladies rode horseback, and dey rode side saddles. I had. a purty side ~ saddle when I growed ~ip. De saddle seat was flowered plush. I had. a p~rty riding habit, too. t~e skirt was so long dat lt almost touched de ground. ~. ~ !espun and wove cil our clothes~ I hadto spin three broaches ever night before bedtime. Mother would take bark and. make dye to give us different colored ~ .~ . ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ .~ . O ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ . ~

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~ ~ ~ oiaahoma ~riters1 Project Della ~ ounta.tn ~ ~ ~ dresses ~e . 08k and sweet guiii made pw~ p1e. :Bois d arc made yellow or oraflge. Wal.nut made a purty brown. We knitted our socks and. stockings, too. We celebrated Ohrlstmas by having abig d.aiice and. eg~nog for ever~ bod~. DurTh~ slavery ~o~ui~4g colo red. boys and ~irI s didn ~ t do much work but just growed. up, care free and. happy. De first work boys d.one was to learn to hitch up d.e team to Master s carriage and. teke d.e young folks for a drive. My older brothers and sisters told. me lots of thin~ dey done during slave clays. My brother Joe felt mighty big after freedom and strutted ab~xt. One day he took his younger brother, 01 wid. him to where father was building a house. Dey Al Dlayed bout de house arid corne u~ to where a white man and. father was tal~ing. De white irian was rolling a little ball of mud. in his hands and he just pitched it over on O ~ foot. It didn t hurt him a mite, but Joe bridled up and he started to ~it smart, and. father told. him d. break hi s ~ neck if he d1dn1 t go on home and. keep his mouth shet. Father finally had to whu Joe to make him knew he was black. He give father and. mother b t s of . concern, for d.ey was afraid. the ICu Kl~uxers would. git him. Orte day he wa~ ~~laying wid. a axe and chopped off brother Ol~s fingers ~other told. him she was going to kill him when she cat~ght him. He took to de woods. Hi5 three .siaters aud two r~eighbor girls run him nearly all clay but could.n~t catch him. La.te in de evening, he come up to a white neighbor s house and she told him to go in and git under de bed. and. day eo~u1diitt find. him. C~urtains come down to de floor ax4 ashe was tired ~e decided to risk it. He hadn~t much more daxi got hid. when he heard 4e girls comizg. . ~e heerd. de woman says H S under de bed. t He knowed. he .!~s ~W~ht. and. he put i~ a fight, but dey took him to mother. HO got a ~b~upping,, b $ he . was shocked dat mother did.n t kill hirn like she said. she was. He ~ He g~o~$~t~to be a good. man, and. was de a~p1e of i~y : ~ . ~ ~ ~ .~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ : ~ ~ ~ . ~ .~ ~ ~ . ~ ~

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Oklahoma Writers Project . Father knowed. a man that stole his Master s horse out and. rode him to a dance. For some reason de horse ile&. De poor man knowed. he was up ~a1nst it, and. he let in to begging de men to help him git de horse on his back so he could put him back in his stable and. his Master would~ think he died dere. Poor fellow, he really Iid think he could tote cla.t horse on. his back. He couid.ntt git anybo8y to help him, so he went to the woods. He was shot by a patroller tcause he wouldntt surrender. Dey captured him but he died. Pa~fl Castleberry was a v,hite preacher. De colored woi~1d go to church de ~ as de whites. He give de colored instructions on obeying Masters. He sa~/, while your Master is going f~oin pillar to post, looking after your intrusts, you is always doing some devilment. I 1spect dat was jest about de truth. My sister played wid bIj5s Millie s little girl, Mollie. De big house was on a high. hill and at de foot of de hill. Nearly a half- mi e away was a big creek wid. a big wooden bridge across it. Soldiers come by evers few days, and you could hear deir horses when dey struck de bridge. Sister and Mollie would run upstairs and look down de hill, and. if lt was Confederate soldiers dey would run back and tell Mi~~ Millie and dey would start puttiri~ out de best food deyhad. If dey saw Yankee soldiers, dey would run down and tell teni and dey d. start hiding things. De Yankees corne through dere and took ever1 bod~r s horses. Lots of people took deir horses and cows and hid. tem in some low place ~n de deep wood. MIss 1Lillle ~3. a yout~g horse and she had sein take him to de wheat field and. hide him. De wheat was as high as he was. De Yankees come by, and a man had stopped dere just before dey come. He was riding an old. horse, and. he was wearing a long iin.en-duater ~ a duster was a long coat dat ~vas worn over de suit to pro. tect lt~ from de lust. ~ . ~ Dis gma~t a1e~k hid. be~iin& de; house and. as. &e soldiers rode up he shot at texn. Dey started shooting at him and. he started running, and his coat was sticking Della ~ otuita1n ~

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Ok1ai~oma Writers1 Project Della F oimtaln i..5uis :106 straight out behind hirn De sold.1 ers surely wann t trying to hi t him, but dey sure cUd. scare him plenty. Mi3~ Millie was certain~r dey *a~ going to find her horse, but dey dIcIn1 t. Master John Rogers was good. to ail his slaves, and they all loved him and. wcniid a died for him. One day he was sitting in his yard. and. Mollie come running down stairs and told. him de Yankees was coming. He never say noth~.ng, but kept si tting dore. D8t morning he had a big s ck of money and he give I t to my mother to hide for him. She ripped. her mattress, and put i~ in de mid.d.ie of it and sewed lt up. She den made u o de ~ed and put de covers on lt. De Yankees searched de hous e and. t ook de j eweiry and silverware and old Mas t ~ gold mug, but dey dldn~ t find. his money. My parents lived close to de old plantation dat they lived, on when dey was slaves. De big house was still dere, but lt was sure dilapidated. Ever bocly was poor after de Wer, whites and. blacks alike. I really think de colored was de best off, for they knowed. all bout hardships and. hard work and de white folks dldnt. At first some of 1em was too proud to do drudgery work, but most of em went right to work and build u~ deir homes again. Pooci, clothes, and in. fact everything needed., was scarce. . Mother always say, If you visit on New Years, you ll visit all de year. We always had black- eyed. peas and hog j owl for New Year s dinner, for j t brought good luck. The Nineteenth of June was emancipation Day, and. we always had. a big picnic and speeches. I lcnowed on woman who was a conjur woman. Lets of people went to her to git her to break a evil spell dat some one had over them. She d brew a tea4rorn~-herbe and. give to 1emto drink, and lt al~wa~r~t cured tem.

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Oklahoma ~Triters Projec~t Della Poimtain I1ve seen people use all kinds %~ roots anci herbs for med.icine, and. I also seen 1ern use all kind of things for cures. Itve knowed teni to put wood. li e in a h~g and tie tem romtd a b&by ~ neck so it td teeth easy. Bla k~.haw root, soir dock, bear grass, grape root, bull nettle, sweet-.gimi bark and red-oak bark boiled separately and. mtxed, tnsk s a good. blood medicine. 107

Nancy Gardner. Age 79 yrs. Oklahoma City, Okla. 113 108

350020 Oklahoma Writers1 Project ~x- S1aves 108 ~IcY C4I~N~4R Age 79 yr~s. Oklahoma City, Okia. Well, to tell you de truth I d.on1t know mya~e, but I was born In 1858, in Franklin, Tennessee. Now, you can figger for yourself and tell how old I is. I i~ de &aughter of Prophet arid Caille Isaiah, and. dey was natives of Tennessee. Dere was three of U9 children, two boys and. myself. Itm de only girl. My brothers names was Prophet and. Billie Isaiah. I &ontt 1member much about dem as we was separatedwhen I was seven years old. i ii never forget when me, my ma and my auntie had. to l~ave my pa and. brothers. It is jest as clear in my mind. now as it was den, and. dat s been about seventy years ago. Oh GOdi I tell you it was awful dat day v~ien old Jeff Davis had a bunch of us sent to Memphis to be sold. I can see old. Major Clifton now. He was a big nigger trader you know. Well, dey took us on up dere to Memphis and we was sold jest like cattle. Dey sold me and ma together and. dey sold. pa and. de boys together. Dey was sent to MissIssipr~i and we was sent to Alabama. My pa, O how my ma was grieved to death about himl She didntt live long after dat. She did.&t live long enow~h to be set free. Poor ma, she died. a slave, but she is saved. though. I know she is, and. I~ll be wid. lier some day. It was thirty years before my pa knew if we was still living. Finally in some way he heard dat I was still alive, and. he began writing me. Course I was grown and married den and me and. my husband had moved to Missouri. Wel ., my pa started out to see me and on his way he was drowned in de Missouri River, and. I never saw him alive after we was sold. in Memphis. I can1t tell you much 1bout work durIng de slave days tcause you see I was j e st a baby you might say when de War broke out. I do remember our

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Oklahoma Wi ttemt Project name though, lt was Dr. Perkins, and he was a good Master. Ma and. pa sure hated. to bave to leave him, he was so good. to dein. He was a rich man, and. had. a big flue house and thousands of acres of land.. He was good to his niggers too. We had. a good. house too, better da i some of dese houses I see folks living in now. Course Dr. Perkins niggers had to work, but dey didntt mind. tcause he would let dem have little patches of dey own such as tatoes Co ru Co t ton and garden. J es t a li t tie you know. He oould.nt t let dem have much, there was so m~y on Dr. Per~ns plantation. :t dontt rem~ber seeing anybody sick in slavery time. You see I was jest a kid. and dore1 s a lot of things I can1 t remember, I am a Christian. I jined. de church nigh on seventy years ago and when I sa~y dat, I d.on~t mean I jest jined de church. I mean I gave myself up to de Heavenly Father, and. I tve been gwine straight down de line for Rim ever since. You know in dem days, we didntt get religion like young folks do now. Young folks today jest find. de church and. den call theyselves Christians, but they amt. . I remember jest as well when I was converted. One day I was thinking I bout a sermon de preacher had. preached and. a vo ice spoke to me and said, De Holy Ghost is over your head. Accept itP Right den I got down on my knees and. prayed to G od dat I might understand dat voice, and God. Almighty In a vision told me dat I should find. de church. I could hardly wait for de next service so I could find it, and when I was in de water getting my baptisement, dat same voice spoke and said., Now you have accepted. don1t turn back ~ cause I will be wid you always! O you don1 t know no thing ~ tout dat kind f religion! I 1member one night shortly after I jined. de church I was laying in b& and dere was a vine tied. ~ round my wat et and dat vine extended. into de -2- 109

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OIc~ioma Writers Project elements. O my GOdI I oan see it now! I looked up dat vine and away in de elements I c~c 1J,~j. see my Divine Master and. he spoke to me aud. said, When you get in trouble shake dis vine; Vin your Master and I will hear your cry. I knowed. old. Jeff Davis good. Why I was jest as close to him as I am to dat table ~ ye talked wid. him too I reckon I do know dat scoundrel I Why, he didntt want de niggers to be free! He was 1~iown as a mean old rasc4 all over de South. Abraham Lincoln? Now you is talking 1bout de niggers friend! Why dat was de best man God. ever let tramp de earth! Everybody was mighty sad. when poor old Abraham was 1sassinate&, 1ca~se he did. a mighty good. deed. for de colored race before he left dis world. I waentt here long during slavery, but I saw enot~gh of it to know it Was mighty hard. go ing f0 r mo et of de niggers den and young folks wouldn t stand for dat kind. of treatment now. I know most of the yo~rng folks would be killed, but they je st wo~uld& t stand for it. I would hate to have to go through wid. my little share of it again. -3.., 110

Octavia George. Age 85 yrs. Oklahoma City, Okla. 116 111

350059 Oklahoma Writerst Project ~ llbc.Slaves jil OCTAVIA ~OR~ Age 85 yrs. Qklahonia City, Okia. I was born. in Mansieur, Louisiana, 1852, Avoir Parish. I am the daughter of Alfred and. Clement me Jo seph. I t 1~iow much about my grand. parents other than ~ mother told. me n~ grandiat1~ert.s name was Fransilai and. was one time a king in Africa. Most of the slaves lived in log cabins and. the beds were home made. The mattre~ ~ ~e re made out of moss gathered. from and. we used to have lots of f~un gathering that moss to make those mattresses. . My job Was taking care of the white children up at the Big House (that is what they called. the hoi~e where our master lived.) and. I also had. to feed the little Negro children. I remember quite well how those poor little children used. to have to eat They were fed. in boxes and. trou ghs, under the houe e They were fed. corn meal mush and. beans When this was poured into their box they would. gather aroimd. it the same as we see pigs, horses and cattle gather around. troughs today. We were never given any money, but were able to get a little money this way: our Master would. let us have two or three acres of land. each year to plant for ourselves and. we could have what we raised on it We could not allow our ~ work on these two or three acres to interfere with Mas te ~ s work, but we had. to wo rk our li ttle crops on Sundays Now remind you, all the Negroes d.idntt get these two or three acres, only good. masters allowed their slaves to have a little crop of their own. We would take the money from our lit tie crops and. buy a few clothes and. something for Ohris tmas The mou would save enough money out of the crops to bi~y their Christmas whiskey. It was ai .

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Ok1ahou~. Writers1 Project right for the slaves to get drunk on Christmas aM New Years Dar; no one was whipped. for gett Ing d.runlc on tho se da~rs We were allowed. to have a garden and. from this we gathered. vegetables to eat on Simclays we couli have thick, fish and. pork. We idn t Imow anything about any clothes other than cotton; ever~ thing we wore Was made of cotton, except our shoes, they were xnacle from pieces of leather cut out of a raw cowhide. Our Master and. Mistress was good., they let us go to church with them, have our little two- or three acre crops and. any other thins that the good. masters would let their slaves 1~. The~. lived in a big fine house aM had. a fine barn. Their barn was much better than the house we lived. In. Master Depriest (our master) was a Frenchman, an& had. eight or nine chil&ren, and. they were sure mean. They would fight ii~ but we were not allowed to fight our little Master or Mistress as we had. to call them. The overseer on Masters plantation was a mean old. fellow, he carried his gun all the time and. would. ride a big fine horse and. go from one bimch of slaves to the other. Sons poor white folks lived. close to us. They ou .d. no t owxi slaves and. theyjiacl to work for the rich plantation. own.e re I believe that those poor white folk are to blame for the Negroes stealing be ~ caase they would. ge t the Negroe s to s teal the ir mas tert s corn hogs chickens ~~and many other ~ things and. sell I t to them for pract Ically nothing. We h~I to work plenty hard, because our Master 1~iad a large plant~ tion. Dont t know just how many acres I t Was but we had. to be t~ at 5 ~ clock In the morning aM would. work until d.ark then we would. have to go heim and d.o our; EIght work, that is cook., milk, an3. feed. the stock. The sl~es were pimished. for stealing, running off, not d.oing wh&t -~2-. 112

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Oklahoma Triterst Project their master told. them and. for talking back to their master. If e~y of these rules were disobeyed. their feet and. hands were chained. together and. they were put across a log or a barrel end. whipped unt J. 1 the blood. came from them. The re were no jails ; the white man was the s laves ~ j ail If whipping d.iclntt settle the crime the Negro conunitted. ~ the next thing would. be to hang him or burn htm at st~e. ~ Itve seen them sell slaves. ~he white would auction them off just as we do cattle and. horses tod~zy. The big fine healthy slaves were worth more than those that were not quite so good. I have seen n~n sold. from their wives and. I thought that was such a c rime I knew that God. would. set tie thing someday. Slaves would run away but most of the time they were cai~ght. The Master would put blood hounds on their trail, and. sometimes the slave would kill the blood homnd and. make his escape. If a slave once tried to run away and was catight he would be whipped almos t to death, and. from then on if he was sent any place they would chain their meanest blood hound to him. l une rais were very simple for s laves they could not carry the body to the church they would. jus t take I t to the grave yard. and bury it They were not even allowed to s in~g a song at the cemetery. Old Mi stress use1~ to teil us ghost stories after funerals and. they would nearly scare me to death. She would tell of seeing men with nohead, and. see cattle that would suddenly turn to cats, and. she made us believe if a fire was close to a cemetery it was coming from a ghost I used to hear quite a bit about voodoo, but that something I never believed in, therefore, I didntt pay any attention to it. When a slave was sick, the master would get a good. doctor for him if he was a good. slave but if he wasn ~ t cons idared. a good slave he would be -3.. 113

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Oklahoma Writerst Project given cheap medical care. Some oi1 the d.octors woul . not go to the cabin where the slaves were and. the s lave would. have to be carried. on his bed. to his mas ter1 s back porch aiid~ the d.octor would see him there. When the news came that we were free, a . . of us were hid. on the Mississippi River. We had~ been there for several deys and. we had to catch fish with our hand.s and. roast themi for food. I remember quite we .1 when old. Mas ter cane d.own to there and. hollered~, Come on out nigge rs ; you are free now and. you can do as you please L We all went to the Big ~touse and. there we found. old. Miss crying and. talking about how she hated to lose her good. niggers. Abraham Lincolni Thy we mourned. three months for that man when he d.iedi I wouldiitt miss a morning getting my black arm band. ~M placing it on in remembrance o f Abraham, who was the bes t fri end. the Negroes ever had. Now old. Jeff Davis, I did~ntt care a thing about him. He was a Democrat and. none of them mean anyth1~ to the Negro. And. if these young Negroes dontt quit n~ssing with the democratic bunch they are going to be right back where we started from. If they only knew as I know they would struggle to keep such from happening, because although I had. a good. master I wouldntt want to go through it again. -4-114

Mary Grayson. Age 83 yrs. Tulsa, Oklahoma. 120 115

~i~5O ~6 j Ok1ahon~a Writers Project ~ Ex-~SIaves 115 MARY G~PAYSO~ Age 83 yi~s. Tulsa, Oklahoma I am what we colored people call a native. ~ That means that I &i .n t come into the Indian country from somewhere in the Old. South, after the lar, like so many negroes d.id., but I was born here in the old. Creek Nation, and my master was a Creek Indian. That was eighty three years ago, so I am to .d~. My manimy belonged to white people back in Alabama when she was born down in the southern. part I think, for she told me that after she was a sizeable girl her white people moved into the eastern part of Alabama where there was a lot of Creeks. Some of them Creeks was mixed. up with the whit es and. some of the big men in the Creeks who come to talk to her master was aimost white it looked. like. ~ My white folks moved. arotmd a lot when I was a little girl , she told me. When mammy was about 10 or 12 years old. some of the Creeks begun to come out to the Territory in little bi~ches. They wasnt.t the ones who was taken out here by the soldiers and. contractor men they come on ahead by thems~lves and. mo st of them had. plenty of too A Creek come to my maininy s master and. bought her to bring out here, but she heard she was being sold. and run off into the woods. There was an old clay pit, dug way back into a high bank, where the slaves bad been getting clay to mix with hog hair scrapings to make clinking for the big log houses that they built for the master and. the cabins theymade for themselves. Weli, my mam~ run aM hid. way back in that old. clay pit, aM it was way after dark before the master and ~ the o ther man found lier. The Creek man that bought her. was a kind sort of a ma~ mamy said., and woii 4~t let the mast r p~mish~h r. Re took her away and was kind tornber, but he decided. she was too yOUng to breed. and. he sold. her to ~other Creek who

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Oklahoma !riterst P~ oject had seversi slaves already, and. he broiiglit her out to the Territory. The McIntosh men was the leaders in the b anch that come out at that time, anht one of the bunch, named Jim Perryman, bought my m~y and. married. her to one of his boys but after he wai ted. a while and. she didnt t have a baby he decided she was no good. breeder and. he sold. her to Mose Perryman. Mose Perryinan was my master, and. he was a cousin to Iiegas Perr~man, who was a big man in the Tribe. He was a lot younger than Mosa, and laughed. at Mo se for buying my ma~imy but he go t fo ol ed. because my ma~i ~iy got married. to Mose s slave boy Jacob, the wa~ the slaves was married. them d.ays, and. went ahead. and. had. ten children for Mr . Mo se. Moss Perryman owned. my pappy and. his older brother, Hector, and. one of the Mointo sh men Oona, I think his naine was owned my pappy s brother William. I can remeraber when I first heard about there was going to be a war. The older children would. talk about it Imt they &i4n t say it was a war all over the country. They would. talk about a war going to be aback in .Alabama , and. I gu.ess they had heard the Creeks talking about it that way. Then I was born we lived in the Choska bottoms, and. Mr. Mose Perryman baAl a lot of land broke in all ~ttp and. down the A.rkansas river along there. Mter the War, when I had. got to be a young woman, there was q,uite a settlement grew up at Oho ska (pronounced. Ohoe-skey) right acro s s the river east of where Haskell now is, but when I was a child. before the War all the whole bottoms was inaraby kindS of wilderness except where farms had. been cleared. oat. The land. was very rich, and. the Oreeks who got to settle there were luck~j. They always had. big crops. All west of us was high ground., toward. Gibson station and. Port Gibson, and the land. was saMy. Some of the Mclntoshes lived. over that way, and. my Uncle William belonged to eue of them. 11G

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Okj~ho~ Writers Project We slaves did.nt t laave a hard. time at all before the War . I have ba people who . were slaves of whi te folks back ~ In the old state s tell me that they had to work awfully hard. and. their masters were ciiiel to them sometimes, but all the Negroes I knew who belonged. to Creeks always had plenty of clothes and. lots to eat and. we all lived. in good. log cabins we built. We worked the farm and tended. to the horses and. cattle and. hogs and. some of the old.er women worked aroi.md. the owner1s house, but each Negro family looked. after a part of the fi eld.s and. wo rked. the crops like they belonged. to us . When I first heard talk about the War the slaves were allowed. to go axui see one another sometimes and. often they were sent on errands several miles with a wagon or on a horse, but pretty soon we were all kept at home, and, nobod.y was allowed. to come around and. talk to us. But we heard what was going on. The Mo Into sh men go t nearly everybody to side wi th thera about the War, but we Negroes got word. somehow that the Cherokees over back of Pt. Gibson was not going to be in the War, and that there were some Union ppople over there who wo~uld help slaves to ge t away, but we child.ren did.n t know anything about what we heard. our parent s whi spering about and. they would stop if they heard us listening. Most of bhe Creeks who lived. in our part of the country, between the Arkansas and. the Verd.igris, and. some even south of the Arkansas, belonged to the Lower Creeks and. sld.ed. wi th the South but down below us along the Canadian River they were Upper Creeks and. there~was a good. deal of talk about them go Ing wi th the North. Some of the Negroes tri ed to get away and go down to them, but I don t know of any from our neighborhood. that went to them. . Some Upper Creeks came up into the Oho ska ho ttoms talking around. among the folks there about siding with the North. They were talking, they -3-. 117

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Oklahoma Writers Project sai~1, for old. mati Gouge, who was a big man among the Upper Creeks. His Indian n~ne was 0po e th-1 e~ ya~ho1a and. he go t away in to Kansas wi. th a big bunch of Creeks and Seminoles during the War. Before that time, I remember one night my uncle William brought another Negro man to our cabin and. talked a long time WI th my pa~py, but ~retty soon some of the Perrynan Negroes told. them that Mr. Mose was coming clown and. they went off into the woods to talk. But Mr, Mose didn t come down . When pappy came back Mammy cri ed qui te a while and. we bhildren could hear them argiiing late at night. Then my uncle Hector slipped over to our cabin several times and. talked to pappy, wid mamny began to fix up grLth, but she didntt give us children but a little bit of it, and. told us to stay around with her at the cabin and. not go playing with the other children. Then early one morning, about daylight, old. Mr. Mose came down to the cabin in his bug~, waving a shot gun and. hollering at the top of his voice. I never saw a man so mad in all my life, before nor since! He yellcd. in at mammy to 11git them children together and git up to my house before I beat you and all of them to death! ~ammy began to cry and plead thht she in t know anything, but he acted like he was going to shoot sure enough, so we all ran to mammy and started for Mr. Mose s house as fast as we could trot. We had to pass all the other Negro cabins on the way, and. we could. see that they were all empty, and it looked like everything in them had been tore up. Straw and. corn shucks all over the place, where somebody had. tore up the mattresses, and all the pans and. kettles gone off the outside walls where they used to hang them. At one place we saw two Negro boys loading some iron kettles on a wagon, and. a little further on was some boys catching chiekens in a yard, :118

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Oklahoma Writerst Project but we could. ~ee ai . the Negroes had left iii a big hurry. I asked mammy where everybody ha~1 gone and she said, NUp to Mr. Mo s house where we are going. He ~ s calling us all In. ~ Will pappy be up there too?~ I asked. her. ~No . Your pappy and. your Uncle Rector and. your Thiel e Will lam an~ a b t of o ther menfolke won ~ t be here any more . They went away. That s why Mr . Mo se I s so mad. so if any of you yoimguns say anything about a~ strange men coming to our place I 11 break your necks 3 ~ Manuiy~ was sure scaredi We all thought sure she was going to get a big whipping, but Mr. Mose just looked at her a minute and. then told. her to get back to the cabin ath bring ai . the clothes, and. bed. ticks and. all kinds of cloth we had. and. corne back ready to travel. Wet re going to take all you black d.evils to a place where there wontt no more of you run awayP~ he yelled after us. So we got read~y to leave as quick as we could.. I kept crying about my pappy, but mammy would. say, ~ Don t you wsrry about your pappy, he ~ s free now. Better be worrying about us No telling where we all will end. up 3 The re was four or five Creek families and. their Negroes all got together to leave, with all their stuff packed. in buggies and. wagons, and. being toted by the Negroes or carried. tied. on horses, jack asses, mules and milk cattle. I reckon it was a fu.nny looking sight or I t would. be to a person now; the way we was all loaded. down with all manner of baggage when we niet at the old. ford across the Arkansas that lead to the Creek Agency. The Agency stood. on a high hill a few miles across the river from where we lived., but we could&t see it from our place down in the Ohoeka bottoms. But as soon as we got up on the ~plath east of the bottoms we could. look across ath see the hill. -5-, 119

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Oklahoma Writerst Project Then we got to a grove at the foot of the hill near the agency Mr. lLose and the other masters went up to the Agency for a while. I suppose they found out up there wbat everybody was suppo sed~ to d~o and. where they was supposed to go for when we s tarted. on it ~ t long until several more families and their slaves had. joined the party and we mate quite a big crowd. The little Negro boys had. to carry a little band.le apiece, but Mr. Mose d.n t make the little gi ri s carry anything ath I et us ride if we could find anything to ride on. My ma~nmy had. to help lead th4,ows part of the time, but a lot of the time she got to ride an old horse, and. she would put me up behind her. lt nearly scared me to death, because I bad. never been on a horse before and she had. to hold. on to me all the time to keep me from failing off. of course I was too small to know what was going on then, but I could tell that all the masters and the Negroes seemed to be mighty worried arid careful all the time. Of course I know now that the Creeks were all spli t up over the War and. nobody was able to tell who would be friendly to us or who would. try to poison us or kill us, or at least rob us. There was a lot of bushwhacking all through that country by little groups of men who was just out to get all they eotald. They would appear like they was the enemy of anybody they run across, just to have an excuse to rob them or burn up their stuff. If you said you was with the South they would be wi th the North and if you claimed. to be wi th the Tankees they would be with the South, so our party was kind of upset all the time we was passing through the country along the Cana~1ian. . That was where 0)4 gouge had. been talking against the South. I ye heard my folks say that he was a wonderful speaker, too. Te ail hail to move along mighty slow, on account of the ones on foot, and. we woul& t get very far in one day, then we Negroes bad to fix up a place to canrp and get wood. an~cook supper for everybody. Sometime s we would. come to -6.. 120

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Oklahoma Writerst Project -.7.. :121 a place to camp that somebody knew about and. we would find. it all tromped. d.own by horses and the spring ail filled in and rained. I reckon old. Gotige s people would. tear up things when they left, or maybe some Southern bushwhackers would~ d.o it. I don t know which. When we ~ot down to where the North Pork runs into the Cana i.an we went around the place where the Creek town was. There was lots of Creeks, down there who was on the other side, so we passed. around. that place and. forded. across west of there . The ford was a bad. one, and. it took us ~ long time to get acro ss . Everybody got wet and. a lot of the stuff on the wagons go t wet. Pretty soon we got d.own into the Chickasaw count~ y, and. everybody was friendly to us, but the Chickasaw people didn t treat their slaves like the Creeks did. They was more strict, like the people in Texas and. other places. The Chickasaws seemed lighter color than the Creeks but they talked more in Indian among thems~lves and to their slaves. Our masters talked ~nglish nearly all the time except when they were talking to Creeks who didntt talk good. English, and. we Negroes never did. learn very good. Creek. I could always understand it, and can yet, a little, but I never did try to talk it nmch. Mammy and. papDy used. English to us all the time. Mr. Mose found a place for us to stop close to Port Washita, and. got us places to stay and. work. I d.ontt know ~vbich direction we were from Port Washita, but I know we were not very far. I dOfltt kflOW how many years we were down in there, but I ~ow it was over two for we worked on crops at two different places, I remember. Then one day Mr. Mose came and toll us that the War was over and that we would have to root for ourselves after that. Then he just rode away and. I never saw him after that witil after we had. got back up into the Choska co untry. Mammy heard that the Negroes

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Oklahoma Inters1 Project -8~ 122 were going to get epial rights with the Creeks, and. that she should. go to the Creek Agency to draw for us, so we set out to try to get back. We started out on foot and. would go a little ways each clay, and. mammy would try to get a little something to d.o to get us some food. Two or three times she got paid. in money, so she had. some money when we got back. After three or four days of walking we came across some more Negroes who had. a horse, and n~a~my paid thera to let us child.ren ride and. tie with their children for a day or two. ~ey ha~ their chulciren on the horse, so two or three little ones would get on with a larger one to. g~iid.e the horse end. we would ri&e a while and. get off and. tie the horse and. start. walking on down the road. Then when the others caught up with the horse they would. rid.e imtil they caught up with us. Pretty soon the old. people got afraid. to have us do that, so we just led. the horse and. some of the little ones rod.e it. We had. our hard.est tintes when we would get to a river or big creek. If the water was swift the horse did.n~t. d.o any good, for it would. shy at the water and. the little ones coul&n t stay on, so we would. have to just wait i~ntil someone came along i~ a wagon nd maybe have to pay them with some of our money or~ some of our ~ goods we were bringing back to haul us aero se . Sometimes we had to wait all day before anyone would. come along in a wagon. We were coming north all this time, up through the Seminole Nation, but when we got to Teeleetka we met a Oreek family of ~ freedmen who were going to the Agency too and. m~my paid. them to take us along in thei r wagon . Then we got to the Agency mammy met a~ Negro who had. seen pappy and. knew where he was so we sent word. to him and. he came and. found. us . He had. been thro~ most of the Tar in the Union army.

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Oklah ma Writers ~ Proj ect When we got away Into the Cherokee country some of them called the Pins helped to smuggle him on up into Missouri and. over Into Kansas, but he soon fow4 that he coi~Ld.n~t get along and. stay safe unless he went with the Army. He went with them ~nti1 the War was over, aM was around Gibson quite a lot. Then he was there he tried to find. out where we had. gone but said. he never could fith out . He was in the bat tie of Honey Springs he said, but never was hurt or sick. When we got back together we cleared a selection of land. a little east of the Choska bottoms, near where Oiarks..~ ville now is, and. farmed imtil I was a great big girl. I went to school at a little school ca.lled Blackjack school. I think it was a kind of mission school and. not one of the Creek nation schools, because my first teacher was Miss Betty Weaver and. she was not a Creek but a Cherokee. Then we had two white teachers, Miss ring and~ John Kernan and. ano ther Cherokee was in clmrge . His naine was Bo as and. he was killed. one d,ay when his horse fell off a bridge across the Ter&igris, on the way from Tullahassee to Gibson Station. Then I got to be a young woman I went to Okinulgee and. worked. for some people near there for several years then I marri ed. Tate Gra~ son. Te got our freedment ~ allotments on Mingo Creek, east of Tulsa, and. lived. there until our chul&ren were grown and. Tate died., then I cane to live with my &aug~ ter in Tulsa. -9~ 123

Robert R. Grinstead. Age 80 yrs. 129 124

nr.oo~4 ~ . ~ Ok1aho~~Writerst Project . ~S1aves i2~ BkZ~$~T~~ Age 80 yrs. Oklahoma City, Okia. . I was born in Lawrence County, Mississippi, February 17, 1857. My father s name is Elias Grinstead., a German, and. ray mother s name is Ann Green stead after that of her master. I a~n a son by my mother and her Master. I have four other half brother: William (Bill) oldest, AIber~, Silas, and John. I was only eight years of age at freedom and. for that reason I was too young to work and on acco~unt of being the son of my Mastez4~s I received no hard treatment and d.H little or no work. Yet, I wore the same clothing a~ did the. rest of the slaves: a shirt of lowell for suinnier and. shirt and. trousers for winter and. no shoes. I could walk through a briar patch in my bare feet without sticking one in the bottom of my feet as they were so hard and resistant. I was the only child of my Master as he had. no wife. When the War broke out he went to the War and. left the plantation in charge of his over~ seer and. his two sisters, As the overseers were hard. for them to get along with they were oftener without an overseer as with one, and. therefore they used. one of the Negroes as overseer for the most of the time. Across the river was another large plantation and. slave owner by the name of Master Wilson. We called him Master too, for he was a close friend and neighbor to our Mistresses. There was one Negro man slave who decided to not work after Master went to the War and the white overseer was fired and. the Negro. overseer was acting as overseer, so my Mistress gave him a note to take across the river to Master Wilson. The note was an order to whip this Negro and as he.couldn t re~ he d1dXI1t know what the note contained. until ~ after Master Wilson read. &t and gave orders to hIs men to tie him for his whip ping. .4!ter this, the whipp thg was so severe that they never had any more

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-2~~ 125 Oklahoma Writerst Project trouble in making this Negro slave work and. they never had. to send. him back again to Master Wilson to be whipped. The fun part of this above incidence was the Negro carried his own note and went alone to be whipped and didn t know it ttjl the lashes was being out on hirn. My Mastert ~ plantation was about 2 miles long and l~ mile wide and. he owned between 30 or 40 slaves. The Negro overseer would wake up the slaves and. have them in the field before they could see how to work each morning and as they would go to work so soon their breakfast was carried to the field to them. One morning the breakfast was taken to the field and the slaves were hoeing cotton and among them was a lad about 15 years of ago who could not hoe as fast as the older slaves and the breakfast was sat at the end of the rows and as they would hoe out to the end they would eat, and if you would be late hoeing to the end the first to ge to the end would began eating and. eat everything. So, this 15 year old lad in order to get out to eat before everything was gone did. not hoe his row good and the overseer, who was white at this time, whipped. him so severely that he could not eat nor work. that day. The Negroes went to church with the white people and joined their church. The church was Baptist in denomination, and. they bilit a pen in the church in ~vhich the Negroes sat, and. when they would take sacrament the Negroes would be served after the whites were through and. one of the Negro group would pass it around to the others within the pen. As there were no dances held. on the plantation the Negroes would oftimes slip off and. go at nights to a nearby dance or peanut parching or rice suppers at nights after work. Some of the ~laves would be allowed to make for them selves rice patches which they would. gather and save for the dances. To pre-. pare this rice for cooking after harvested they would burn a trough into a log, they called mortar and with a large wooden mallet they called. pessel, and. which they would pound. upon the rice until hulled. and ready for cooking. This

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Oklahoma ~riterst Project . . ..3N~, 126 rice would be boiled with justsalt and. water and eaten as a great feast with delight Daring slavery some of the Negro slaves would kill snakes and. skin them and wear these snake skins to prevent being voodooed they said. When some of the slaves would take sick and. the home remedies would fail to cure them o~r Mistress would allow one of the Negro men slaves to go to the white doctor and get some medicine for the patient. The doctor would ask questions as to the actions of the Datient and from said. description would send. medi- cine without ever going to see the patient and. his medicine wo~fld always cure the patient of his disease if consulted in time. After the news came that brought our freedom a white union officer with 20 trained Negro~ soldiers visited the ~1antations and saw that the Negroes received theirfreedorn. He would put on a demonstration with his Negro soldiers by having them line up and then at a command they would all rush forward and stand their guns up together on the stock end without a one falling and get back into line and upon another command they would rush forward and each get his g~n again without allowing one to fall and. again reline up. When I was large enough to pay attention to my color and to that of the other slaves I wondered. to myself why I was not black like the rest of the slaves and concluded to myself that I would when I got grown like they were as I knew not then that I was the son of my Master. During the War and as the men and our Master all went to the War the Negroes or a Negro would have to go to the Mistress homes each morning and. start fires and never, did. I ever hear of a rape case under such close cond.itions as Negroes going into the bed rooms each moruing of the white mistress to start fires. ~ My first wife was name Tracy Smith. As I had been free for over

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Oklahoma Writerst Project . . j~ 12 years. We had ordinary marriage ceremony, I have 11 grown children, 15 or 20 grandchildren and 3 great grandchildren. I think Abraham Lincoln was a fine old gentlemen and I doritt think he was what he should have been, and as to Booker I think his idea of educating or training Negroes as servants to white race appealed more to the white race than the Negroes. My viewpoint as to slavery is that it was as much detrimental to white race as it was to the Negroes, as one elevated ones minds toohighly, the other degraded ones mind toolowly. as to Jeff Davis T. Washington serve the the and.

Mattie Hariman. Age 78 yrs. Oklahoma City, Okla. 133 128

~5OO2~ Oklahoma Writerst Pro ject ~ ~ ~ Ex~S1aves 128 MATTIE EARDML~ Age 78 yrs. ~ ~ ~ Oklahoma City, Ok .a. I was born January 2, 1859, at Gunalls, Texas. My father s name was Will iam Tensley and my mother s name Mildred. Howard. They was brought from Virginia. I did ha7e 8 brothers and. sisters but all of them are dead. My Master was name. William Henty Howard. Since I was too yoimg to work I nursed my sisters children while they worked. The cooking was done all up to the genera . kitchen at Masters house and. when slaves come from work they wt~u1d send. their children up to the kitchen to bring their meals to their homes in the quarters. Our Mistress would have one of the cooks to dish up vegetables and she herself would. slice or serve the meat to see that it t t ~ iasted as seemingly i t was thought so precious. As my mother worked ro~d the Big House quite a deal I wotild go up to the Big House with her and. play with the white children who seemed. to like for me to come to play with them. One day in anger while ~laying I called one of the white girls, old black dog and they pretended they would tel). their mother (my Mistress) about it. I was scared, as they saw, and. they promised me they would not tell if I d promise to not do it again, and which I was so glad to do and. be let off so lightly. Por summer I wore a cotton slip and. for winter my mother knittM at nights after her days work was done so I wore red. flannels for imderwear and. thick linsey for an over.-dress, and had. knitted stockings and boi~ght shoes. As n~ Master was a doctor he made his slaves wear suitable clothes in accordance to the weather. ~e also wore gloves ~ mother ~itted in winter. ~ . . ~ . My Mi stress was good to all of the slaves. On Sunday morning she woti 4 make aU the Negro children come to the Big House and she would stand.

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Oklahoma Writers Project ~2.sjp9 on the front steps and read. the Catechism to us who sat or stood. in front on the groundS. My Master was also good. On ~Vednesdays and. Friday nights he would make the slaves come up to the Big House and. he would. read the Bible to them and. he would pray. He was a doctor and very fractious and exact. He didn t allow the slaves to claim they forgot to do thus and so nor did he allow them to make the expression, ~I ~ thought so and so. ~ He would say to them if they did.: who told you, you could thinkV They had 10 children, 7 boys and 3 girls. Their house was a large 2 story log house painted white. My f~ther was overseer on the planta tion. The plantation consisted of 400 acres and &oout 40 slaves including children. The slaves were so seldom punished until they nevertd. worry about being punished. They treated their slaves as though they loved them. The poor white neighbors were also good and treated the s1avec~ good, for my ~ Master would warn them to not bother his Negroes, My Mistress always told the slaves she wanted all of them to visit her and. come to her funeral and burial when she died. and named the men slaves she wanted to be her pall-. bearers, all of which was carried out as she planned even though it was after freedom. .. The slaves even who lived adjoining our plantation would. have church at our Big House. They would hold church on Sundays and Sunday nights. As my mother worked a deal for her Mistress she had an inkling or overheard that they was going to be set free long before the day they were. She called all the slaves on the plantation together and broke to them this news after they had promised her they would not spread the news so that it would get back to our Master. So, everybody kept the news until Saturday

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Oklahoma Writers Project 3.. 130 night Jime 19th, when Master called ail the slaves to the big gate and told them they were all free, but could stay right on in their homes if they had no places to ~o and. which all o ~ them did. They went right out and gathered the crop just like they d always done, and some of them remained there several years. ~&v first husband was name, SW. Warnley. We had 4 children, I girl and three boys anti 3 grandchildren. I now have two grandchildren. Now that slavery is over I sometime wish twas stil1~ existing for some of our lazy folks, so that so many of them wouldn t or couldntt loaf aroimd so much lowering our race walking the street s day by day and running from house to house living corruptible lives which is keeping the race down as though there be no good. ones among us.

Annie Hawkins. Age 90. Colbert, Okla. 136 131

3500 94 . Oklahoma Writerst Project . . ~x...s~yej j3j ANNIE HAWKINS Age9O Colbert, Okia call s myself 90 but I dont t know jest how old I really am but I was a good sized gal when we moved from Georgia to Texas. ~e corne on a big boat and one night the stars fell. Talk about being scared! W all ran and hid and hollered and. Drayed. We thought the end of the world had. come. I never had. no white olks that was good to me. We all worked jest like dogs and had about half enough to eat and got whuoped for everything. . Our days was a constant misery to us. I know lots of niggers that was slaves had. a good time but we never dU. Seems hard. that I cantt sa~r any thing good for any of em but I sh& cant t . Then I was small my job was to tote cool water to the field to the hands. It kept me busy going back and forth and I had to be sho my old Mistress had a cool drink when she wanted it, too. Mother and my sister and rae worked in the field all day and come in time to clear away the things and cook supper. ~.en we was throu.gh in the kitchen we would spin fer a long time. Mother would spin and we would. card. ~ My old Master was Dave Giles, the meanest man thatever lIved. He did.nT t have many slaves, ~y mammy~ and. me~and. my sister, Uncle Bill) and Truman. He had. owned my grandma but he give her a bad. whupping and she never did g t over it and died. We all done as much work as a dozen niggers- we knowed we had to. I seen old Master git mad. at Tru.man and. he bmckled him down across a barrel and whupped. him till he cut the blood out of him and then he rubbed. salt and pepper in the raw places. It looked like Truman would die it hurt so bad. I know that dont t sound reasonable that a white man in a Christian cominu.nity would. do such a thing but you cantt realize how heartless he was. People didn t ~ow about it and we dassent tell for we 1~owed hetd. kill ui

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:132 if we dId. You must remember he owned us body and. sou . and. they wasntt anys thing we could do about lt. O1d~ Mistress and her three girls was mean to us too. One time me and. niy sister was spinning and old. Mistress went to the well house and. she found a chicken snake and. killed it . She brought it back and she throwed lt around my sistert s neck. She jest 1augh~d and. laughed. about it. She thought it was a big joke. Old. Master stayed dnink all the time. I reckon that is the reason he was so fetched mean. My, how we hated him! He finally ki1~ed hisseif drinking and. I remember Old. Mistress called us in to look at him In his coffin. 71e all marched by him slow like and I jest happened to look up and. caught my sisterts eye and. we both jest natchelly laughed.- -~ ~hy shouldntt we? We was glad. he was dead. It~s a good. thing we had. our laugh fer old. Mistress took us out and. whupped. us witha broomstick. She d.id.ntt make us sorry though. Old. Master and. Mistress lived in a nice big house on top of a hill and. us darkies lived. in log cabins with log floors, Oui dresses was n~ade out of coarse cloth like cotton sacking and. and. it shoe lasted a long time. It ort to been called. mule hide for it was about that totigh. ~e went to church s~metlmes. They had. to let us do that or folks would have ~otrnd out how mean they was to us. Old.Mastertd. give us a pass to show the patroller. Vie was glad. to git the chance to git away and. we always went to church. Th.tring the War we seen lott~ of sol~ers. Some of them was Yankees aM some wereSesesh soldiers. My job every day was to take a big tray of food. and.. set it on a stump about a ~rter of amile from our house. I done ~.this twice a d.a~r ~ ever time I went back the dishes would. be empty. I never Oklahoma Writers1 Project

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Oklahoma ~Triterst Project . .~. j~33 did. see nobody and. dlthitt nobody tell me why I was to take the food. up there but of course it was either for solid~ers that was scouting tround orit may been for some lowdown dirty bushwhacker, and. again it might a been for some of old. Masterts folks scouting around. to keep out of the army. We was the happiest folks in the world when we knowed we was free. We couldntt realize it at first but how we d.H shout and. cry for ~oy when we did. realize it. We was afraid. to leave the place at first for fear old. Mistress would bring us back or the pateroller would. g t us. Old. Mistress died. soon after the VIar and we d d.n t care either. She didn t never do nothing to make us love her. Vie was jest as glad as when old. Master died. I don t know what become of the three gals. They was about grown. We moved away jest as far away as we could and I married soon after. My husband died and I married again. I been married four times and all my husbands died. The last time I married it was to a man that belonged to a Indian man, Sam Love. He was a good owner and was one ofthe best men that ever lived. My husband never did. move far away from him and he loved him like a father. He always looked after him till he died. My husband has been dead. five years. . I have had fifteen children. Pour pairs of twins, and only four of them are I lying. The good. Lawd wouldn t let me keep them. I se lived through three wars so yousee It~e no baby.

Ida Henry. Age 83. Oklahoma City, Okla. 139 134

350()26 ~ ~ . Oklahoma Writers Project Ex-Siaves 1Ou 14..3? ItYl: IDA H~NRY ~ *~ _--* Age8Z . Oklahoma City, Ok .a. I was born in Marshall, Texas, In 1854. Me mother was named Millie Henderson and. me father Silas Hall. Me mother was sold~ in South CarolinaS to Mister Hall, who brought her to Texas. Me father was born and raise& by Master John Hall. Me mother s and s family consisted of five girls aM one boy. My sister s names were: Margrette, Ohalette, Lottie, Gracy and. Loyo arid. me b rother s name was D~~k Howard. I live& wi th me mother and father in a log house on Master Hall s plantation. We would be sorry when dark, as de patrollers would walk through de quarters and homes of de slaves aU times of night wid. pine torch lights to ~Mp de niggers found away from d.eir home. At nights when me mother would slip away for a visit to some of d~e neighbors homes, she woti.ld raise up the old plank floor to de log cabin and. make pallots on de gromid and. put us to bed. and put the floor back down so q dat we cou .d.n t be seen or found. by the patrollere on their stroll aroi~M at nights. ~ My grandmother Lottie would. always tell us to not let Master catch you in a lie, and. to always tell him d.e truth. I was house girl to me Mistress and nursed, cooked., and. carried de children to and. from school. In summer we girls wore cotton slips and yarn dresses for winter. When I got married I was dress in blue serge and~ was de third person to marry in it. Wedding dresses was not worn after de wedding in dem days by niggers as we was taught by our Mistress dat it was bad. luck to

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Oklahoma Writers Project wear de weddin~ dress after marriage . Therefore twas handed down from one generation to the other one. Me Mi stress was sometimes good. and. sometimes mean. One day de cook was waiting &e table and. when passing around de potatoes, old. Mistress fbelt of one and. as hit wasn t soft done, she exclaimed to de cook, What you bring these raw potatoes out here ~ for? and grab a fork and. stuck it in her eye aM put hit out. She, de cook, lived about 10 years and. died. Me Mistress was de mother of five children, Crock, Jim, Bo~g and. two girls name, Lea and. Annie. De~ home was a large two tory white house wid. de large white posts. As me M .ster went to de Tar de old. overseer tried. himself in meanness over de slaves as seemingly he tried. to be important. One day de slaves ca~ight him and~ one held. him whilst another knocked. him in d.e head. and. killed. him. Master s plantation was abo~at 300 acres and he had. 1bout 160 slaves. Be-. fore de slaves killed our overseer, he soul& work ~ em night and. day. De slaves was punished when &ey didn t do as much work as de overseer wanted. ~em to d~o. He would. lock ~ ~ in j ail so me night s wi thout food. aM kept em d.ere aU n~ht . and after ~iipping ein de next morning would. only give em bread. and water to work on till noon. When a si ave was hard to catch for ptini sbinent dey ~ould make em wear ball an& chains. De ball was tbout de size of de head. and. made of lead. On $unda~rnornings before breakfast our Mistress would call us together, read de Bible and. show us pictures of de Devil in de Bible and. tell us dat if we was not good and. if we woi~tld steal and. tell lies dat old Satan would git lis. -2~

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Oklahoma Writers1 Project ..~.. ~ Close to our Master s plantation lived. several families of old. spoor whi te t rash who woti .d. steal me Master s hogs and. cktickena and come and. tell me Mi stress dat dey seen some of d.e slaves knock one of ~ hogs In d.e hea& Dis continued up till Master returned. from d.e War and. caught de old. white t rash stealing his hogs. De niggers d.id. at times steal Ma s hogs and. chickens, and. I ~ou1d put biscuits and. pieces of chicken in a sack uud,er me dress d.at thing from me waist, as I waited de table for me Mistress, and. later would slip off and. eat it as dey never gave d.e slaves ione of~,. s sort of food.. We had. church S~nd~ys aM our preacher Rev. Pat Williams would preach and. our Master and. family and. other nearby white neighbors would. ofttime attend. our services. De patroller s wo~uldn t allow de slaves to hold night rv, and one night dey cat~ght me mother out praying. Dey stripped her . naked. and. tied her hands together and wid. a rope tied. to de hand. cuffs and. threw one end. of de rope over a limb and. tied. de other end to de ponmiel of a saddle on a horse. As me mother weighed. bout 200, dey pulled her up so dat her toes could barely touch de ground and. whipped her. Dat same night she ran away and. stayed. over a da~r and returned.. Durin de fall months dey would. have corn shucking and. cotton pickings and. would. g1~ve a prize to de one who would pick de highest amount . of cott n or shuck d.e largest pile of corn. De prize would usually be a suit of clothes or something to w~ar and. which would. be given at some later d.ate. We coii .d only have dances during holidays, but dances was held. on other plantations. One night a traveler visittngme Master:and wanted his boots. shined.. So Master gave de boots to one of de slaves to shine and. de slave put d.e boots on and. went to a dance and danced. so much dat his feet swelled. so d.at~ when he returned. h could not pull 1em off. ~

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Oklahoma Writers Project ~ 4 ~ 13? De next morning as de slave did. not show up with. de boots dey went to look for him and found him lying d~own trying to pull de boots off. He told. his Master &at he had. put de boots on to shine em and could not pull 1em off. So Master had. to go to town and. ~bt~y de traveler another pair of boots. Before he could. rc~n away de slave was beaten wid. 500 lashes. De War dat bro~ht our freedom lasted about two years. Me Master went and~ carried one of de slaves for a servant. When he returned. he seemed a much different man &an he was before de War. He was kind and good and. from dat day on ~he ~never whipped another slave nor did he allow any of his slaves whipped. Dis time lasted from January to June de 19th when we was set free in de State of Texas. Lincoln and. Davis both died. short of promise. I means dat d.ey both died before d.ey carried~ out defl plans and promises for freeing de slaves.

Morris Hillyer. Age 84 yrs. Alderson, Okla. 143 138

S50021 Oklahoma Writerst Project ExmiSlave ~ I~8 e MoR~as irna~i~ Age 84 in. Alderson, Ok .a. My father was Gabe Hillyer and my mo ther was Clan ssy HillIer, ath our home was In Borne, Georgia. 0ur owner was Jud~ge Hillyer. He wa~ d.e last United States senator to Washington, D. C. before d.c War. My mo thor di od. when I was only a few days old and. the only mo ther I ever knew was Judge Hillyer s wife, Mise Jane. Her nine children were all older than I was and. when mother died. Mi85 Jane said. mother had~ raised. her chuld.ren and she wou~ raise hers. So she ~ took us into her house ath we never lived. at de quarters any more. I had. two sisters, Sally and. Sylvia, and we had. a room in de Big House and sister SaUy didn t do nothing else but look after nie. I used to stand. With my thwnb in niy mouth and. hold. to Miss Jane s apron while she knitted., When Judge Hillyer was elected. he sold. out hi s farm and. gave hi s slave s to hie children. He owned about twelve or fourteen slaves at this time. He gave me and my sister Sylvia to his eon, Dr. Hillyer, and. my father to another one of his sons who was studying law. i ather stayed with him and. took cane of him until he graduated.. J ather learned to be a good. carpenter while he lived. with George Hillyer. George never married until after de War. Dr. Hillyer lived. on a big plantation but he practiced. medicine all de time. He &LdU~ t have umoh time to look after de farm but he had. gocd. ovei~ seers and. they sure didn~t beat his slaves or mistreat em in any wa~. Dr. Hillyer marri ed. a rich girl is Mary Cool ey and. her father gave her fifteen slaves when she married and. Jud~ge Hillyer gave him five so he had a purty good start from de first and. he knowed. how to make money so he was

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Oklahoma Writers Project ~2- 1:39 a wealthy man when de Rebeilloxi started. My sister and. I d.ld.ntt kxiowhow to act when we was sent out there among strangers. We had to live in de quarters just like de other xiiggers, and. we d1du~t especially like it. I guess I was a sort of bad. boy. The re was s everal mo re boys about my e~e and. we d.1 t have any wo rk to do but just busy ourselves by getting into mischief. We d ride de calves, chase de pigs, kill de chickens, break up hens nests, and 1x~. fact do most everything we had&t ought to do. Finally they put us to toting water to de field hands, minding de gape, taking de cows to pasture and. as d~t kept us purty busy we wasnt t so bai after dat. My happiest days was when I was with de old Juxige and Miss Jane. 1 can sit here and. think of them old times and it seems like it was just yesterday dat it all happened. He was a great hand to go to town every day and lounge around wid his cronies. I used to go with him, and. my how they ~~uld argue. Sometimes they would get mad and. shake their canes in each other1 ~ faces. I guess they was talking politics. Our old blaster liked cats better than any man I ever saw, and he always hail five or six that followed him about de place like dogs. When he went to eat they was always close to him and. just as soon as he finished he would always feed them. When he was gone us boys used to throw at his cats or set de dogs on tem. We was always careful dat no one saw us for if he had known about it he would a~.whipped~ us and no mistake. I wouldntt a~sblamed him either, for I like cats now. I think they are lots of company. He was a typical Iouthsrn gentl elnan medium s ized. and wo re a Van Dyke beard, H5 never whipped his slaves, and he didn1t have a one dat woiild.ntt a .died for him. Judge Hillyer had. one son, William, dat wouldntt go to college. He

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Oklahoma Writers1 Project made fun of his brothers for goiug to school so long, and said. that he would be ashamed. to go and. stay five or six years. After de War he settled down and studied law in Judge Akiris office and opened a office in Athens, Georgia, and he made de best lawyer of them all. U~ boys used to go hunting with Master William. He hunted rabbits, qi~a~ils, squirrels, and sometimes he would kill a deer. He hwited mostly with dogs. He never used. a gun but very little. Lead was so scarce and. cost so much dat he couldn~t afford to waste a bullet on rabbits pr snakes. He made his own bullets. The dogs would chase a rabbit into a hollow tree and we1d take a stick and. twist him out. Sometimes wetd have nearly all de hide twi s ted. o if hi in when we ~ d gi t him out. Old Judge Hillyer smoked a pipe with a long stem. He used. to give nie ten cents a day to fill it for him. He told. me I had. to have $36 at the end. of the year, but I never made it. There was a store right close to us and. I d ~o down there and spend my money for 1 emon stick candy ginger cakes, peanuts, and. firecrackers. Old. Master knowed I woulthi~t save it, end he didn1t care if I did spent it for it was mine to do with just as I pleased. ~very time a circus come to town I d. run off and. they would.nt t see me again ai . day, Seemed like I just couldnt t help j t. I wouldri~ t take time to git permission to go. One time to punish me for running off he tied. me up by my thuribs, and. I hail to stay home while de rest went. I didx ~t dare try to git loose and run off for I knowed. I d git my jacket tanned if I did. Old. 1~(aster never laid his hand. on me, but I knowed. he would if I didn t do as he told me, He never told. us twice to do anything either. Coins had. curious names in them dayB. A dime was called a thrip. ~ ourpen was about the same value as three cents or maybe a little more. It took three of 1em to make a thrip. There was all sorts of paper money. 3e. :14()

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Ok1a~ioma Writers Project avery first TuesIay slaves were broi~ght in from Virginia and. sold ou de block. De auctioneer was Oap n Dorsey. ~. M. Cobb wa~ de ~1ave bringer. They would stand de slaves up on de block and. talk about what a fine looking specimen of black ina~hood or womanhood dey was, tell how healthy dey v~as, look in their mouth and examine their teeth just like they was a horse, and. talk about de kind. of i~rk they wo~u1d be fit for and. could do. Young healthy boys and girls brought the best prices. I guess they figured dat they ~i~ld grow to be valuabis. I uBed. to stand around and. watch de eales take place but it never entered my mind to be afraid for I knowed. old Judge waentt going to sell me, I thought I wae an important member of hi e family. Old. Jwlge bought every ro~g~sh nigger in the country. H. d. take him home and give him the key to everything on de plane and. say to help hisself. Soon as he got all he wanted to eat hetd quit being a rogue. Old Judge said that was what made niggers steal ~ they was hungry. They used. to scare us kids by telling us dat a ninaway nigger would git u.. De timber was awful heavy in de river bottoms, and dey was one nigger dat run off from hie maSter and. lived for years in these bottoms. He was there all during de War and come out after de ~rr~d.er. every man in dat country oined. him at some time or other. H15 owner sold him to a man who was sure he could catch him ~ he never did., so he sold. him to another slave owner and so on till nearly everybody had. him. He chan~jed hands about six o r seven times . They would come in droves wi th blood hound.~ and h unt 10 r him but dey cou .dn t catch him for he lcnowed them woods too well He d feed de dogs and make fri ends wi th ~ em and they wouldn t bo ther him. He 1 ived. on nuts, fruit, and. wild game, and niggers would slip food to him. He d. slip into town and. get whiskey and trade it to de niggers for food. -4 . 141

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Okiahonia Writers1 Pioject -5 J~~1ge Hillyer never t1o~ce~ his niggers and. d.ey could. alwaye have anything on de place to eat. We ha~ so much fr~eciom dat other slave owners in our nelghbo rhood. &idII ~ t like fo r us to come among their slaves fo r they said. we was free n1gger~ and. would. make their slaves discontented. After I went to live with Judge Hlllyer e son, Dr. Hillyer, one of my jobs was to tote the girls books to school every morning. All the plantation owners had a colored boy dat did. that. After we had toted de books to de school house wetd. go back down de road a piece and. line up and. have the gone byin~-~est fight you ever see. We d have regular battles. If I got licked in de mox~ing I d. go home and rest up and. I d give somebody a good licking dat evening. I reckon I caught up with my fighting for in all my working life I have always worked with gangs of men of from one to two hundred. and. I never stru.ck a man and no man ever struck me. Jim Williams was a patroller, and. how he did like to catch a nigger off de farm without a permit so he could whip him. Jim thought he was de best man in de country and. could whip de best of tem. One night John Hardin, a big husky feller, was out late. He met Jim and knowed he was in fo r i t J im said. ~ I ~ m gonna give you a whi. te mant s chance. I m gonna let you fight me arid if you are de best man, well and. good. John say, Master Jim I can ~ t fight wid you. Come on and give me mt licking, and. let me go on home. But Jim 1!ou .d~nt t do it and. he &apped John and. called him some names and told. him he is a coward to fight him. All dis made John awful mad. and he f ~ww into hirn and. give him the terriblest licking a man ever toted.. He went on home ~at knew he would git into trouble over it. . Jim talked. around over the country about what he was going to do to John but everybody told. him dat he brought it all on hisseif. He never 142

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Oklahoma Writers1 Project 6.. did. try to gi t ano ther nigger to fight wi th him. Ye ~ I giie SB ChaiJilS keep off bad~ luck. I have wore ~ ~m but money always was niy best lucky piece. Itve mwle lots of money but I never made good use of it, I was always afraid of ghosts but I never saw one. There was a graveyard. beside de road from our house to town and. I always was afraid to go by it. I d. shut niy eyes and. run for dear life till I was past de grave yard. I had heard dat there was a headless man dat stayed. there on. cold. rainy days or foggy nights hetd. hi&e by de fence and. throw his head. at you. Once a man got hit aM he fell right aown dead. I believed dat tale and. you can imagine how felt whenever I had. to go past there by myself and on foot. I saw lots of Ku Kiuxers but I ~va8ntt afraid. of them. I knowe& I hadn1t done nothing and. they waentt after me. One time I met a bimch of tem and one of tem said, Who is dis feller?~ Another one eaid, Oh, datts abete foolish boy, come on, dontt bother him. I always did. think dat voice souMed natural but I never did. say anything about it. It sounded. powerful like one of old Judge s boys. Dey rode on and. didntt bother me and I never was a bit afraid of 1em any more. I went to school one month after de War. I never learned much but I learned to read some where along de road dat I come over. My father come from Athen s Geo rgia, and. took us away wi th him. I learned the carpenter s trade from him. He was so mean to me dat ~ ~ away ~h~i I was nineteen. I went back to Borne eorgia, and go t a j ob wi th a bridge gang and. spent two years with 1em. I went then to Henderson, Kentuclcj, and worked for ten years. There was hundreds of colored. people coming to de mines at Krebs and. Alderson and. I decided to come along, too. I never worked in de mines but I ~ all sorts of carpentering for them. I married in Atoka, Oklahoma, thirty three years ago, I never had. no :143

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Oklahoma Writers Project . 7 :144; children. Itve made lots of money but somehow it always got away from me. But me and. my wife 1~iave our little home here and. we are both still able to work a little, so I guess we are making it all right.

Hal Hutson. Age 90 yrs. Oklahoma City, Okla. 150 145

3~tJU58 ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ : ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Oklahoma Writers1 2roject . Ex~Slaves . HAL HUTSON Age 90 yrs. . Oklahoma City, Olcia. . I was born at Galveston, Tennessee, 0ctober 12, 1847. There were il children: 7 bro thers ; Andrew George, Oient Gilbert frank Mack~ an~ Horace ; and 3 girls: Be sie Marie and. Nancy. Te were all &i . Together wi th my mo ther and. father we wo rked. fo r the sane man who se name Was Mr. ~arton Brown, but who we all call Master Brovrn, and sometimes Mr. Browa. . Mas ter Brown had a good. weathez~boar& house two story, wi th five or six rooms. They lived pretty well. He had eight children. We lived in one room log huts. There were a long string of them huts. We slept on the floor like hogs. Girls and. boys slept together ~ jest everybody slept every vthar. Te never knew what biscuits were! Te ate ~~second~s ani shortsU (*eat ~. ground once) for bread. Ate rabbits, possums baked. with taters, beans,and. bean so~ip No chicken fi sh and. the like . My favori te dish now s beans. Master Brown owned. about 36 or 40 slaves I cant t recall j est nowv au& about 200 acres of grotin&. There was very li t tie co tton rai sed. in Galveston ~ I mean j e st some corn . Some times we would. shuck ce ru all night. He would no t let us rai se gard.ens of our own but .i&& t mini us rai sing ~ corn and. a few o ther tru.ck vegetables to sell for a li ttle spending change. I learaed~ to rea& write and. figger at an. early a~e . Master Brownt s boy and. I were the same age you see (14 years old) and. he would. send. me to school to protect his kids, and I would. have to sit up there imtil school was o~~it. So while sitting there I listened to uhat the vthite teacher was telling the kitte, .a~. catight on how to read, write and figger but I never let on,

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Oklahoma ~yrjters Project tcatise if I ~vas caught trying to reador figger dey would. whip rae something terrible. After I caught on how to figger the white kids would ask me to teach them. Master Brov n woiflc~. often say: My God. O mighty, never do for that nigger to learn to figger. . ~e werentt allowed to count change. If we borrowed a fifty cent ~ ~ :oiece, we would have to ~~ay back a fifty cent piece not five dimes or fifty pennies or ten nickels. UTe went barefooted the year round and. wore 1on~ shirts split on each side. All of us niggers called all the whites poor white trash. The overseer was nothing but poor white trash and the meanest man that ever walked on earth. He never diA whip me much tcause I was kind of a pet. I worked up to the Big House, but he shot did whir them others. Why, one day he was beating xnyinother, and I was too small to say anything, so my big brother heard her crying and caine r~unning, picked up a chunk and that overseer stopped a beating her. The white boy was holding her on the grornid. and. he was whipping her with a long leather whip. They said they couldntt teach her no sense and she said. III ontt wanna learn no seflse.~~ The overseerts name was Charlie Clark. One day he whipped a maz~ until he was bloody as a pig tcause he went to the mill and. stayed too long. The patroller rode all night and. iffen we were caught out later tI~n 10 :00 o clock they would. beat us but we would git each other word by sending a man round way late at night. Always take news by night. 0f course the Eu Xltix Klan didntt come ttil after the war. They was something like the pat rollers. Never heard of no trouble between the black and whites tcause them niggers were afraid to resist them. My biggest job was keeping flies. offtn the table up at the Big House. When time come to go in for. the day we would cut up and dance. I cantt remember aiiy of the songs ~jest now, but we had some that we s .mg. We danced. a whole lots 14G

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~ Oklahoma ~r1ters Project 147 and. jest sung made up songs. O1d~ Master would stay up to hear us come in. Of cotirse Saturday afternoon was a holiday. We didntt work no holidays. Master gave us one week off for Christmas, and never *orke~ us on Sunday, unless the ox was in the ditch.t1 When the slaves got sick we had. white doctors, and. we would. wait on each other. Drink dock root tea, ~u11in tea and flaxweecl. tea, but we never wore charms. I think itts a good thing that slavery s over. It ought to been over a good while ago, ~ But it.s going to be slavery all over again if things &n t git better. But I thank God. I1ve been a Christian for 70 years, and. now is a member of Tabernacle Baptist Church and. deacon of the church, and. a Christian tcause the Bible teaches nie to be. That war was a awful thing. I used to pack them soldiers water on ~ ~ lily head, and then I worked at Port Sill and. Port Dawson in Tennessee. Those Yankees c~ii~e by nights ~ got behind those rebels, and. took their hams, drove ho~~~s in the houses, 1~illed. their chickens and. ate up the rebels food, but the Yanks didntt bother us niggers. When freedom come old Master called us all in from the fields and. told us, All of you niggers are free as frogs now to go wherever you choose. You are your own man now.11 ~Te all continued working for him at $5.00 a month. After the crops were gathered. the niggers scattered out. Some went North and. we would say when they went North that they lad crossed the water. I never married. ttill after the War. Married at my mother~s house t cause my i ~ mother did~nt .~ let us marry at her hous e so I s ent Jack Perry after her on a hoss and. we had. a big dinner and jest got married.. ~ I am the father of nine children, but jest three is living. One is a dent I s t in Muskogge Dr. Midrew Eut son. All of t he children are pret ty well read. We never bad schools for niggers until after slavery. I think Abraham Lincoln was a great man, but t don t know much about Jeff Davis. Boo3~cer ~I!. Washt~gton was a ft~ieman.

William Hutson. Age 98 yrs. Tulsa, Okla. 153 148

350093 . . 148 f 4Oklahoma Vlriters Project . F~X~..SLAVES ~ . \9~~ WILLI~AM HUTSON ~s ~ ~ ~ ( ~ \ ~r&~ Age 9ryrs. - ~ ~ Tulsa V hen a feller gets as old as me it s a heap easier to forget things than it is to remember, but I aintt never forgot that old. plantation where good old Doctor Allison lived back there in Georgia long before the War that brought us slaves the freedom. I hear the slaves talking ~bout mean masters when I was a boy. They wasn1 t t alking ab out Mast er As on thoug i caus e he was a good man and took part for the slaves when any trouble corne up with the overseer. The ~ name was Louisa (the same name as the gal I was married to later after the War), and she was ji~st about as mean as was the old. Master good. I was the house boy when I gets old enoi~h to understand what the Master wants done and I does it just like he says, so I reckon thatts why we always get along together. The Master helped to raise my mammy. Then I was born he says to her (my mammy tells me when I gets older): Oheney , the old Master say, that boy is going be different from these other children. I aims to see that he is. He s going be in the house all the time, he ain t going work in the fields; hets going to stay right with me all the time.t They was about twenty slaves on the plantation but I was the one old Master called for when he wanted something special for himself. I was the one h ~ tOok :with hi~ on the trips to town I was the one who fetch him the cooling ~ drink after he look about the fields and sometimes I carry the little black bag when he goes a~...doctoring folks with the misery away off some other farm. The Master hear about there going be an auction one day and. be f iggered. :;: maybe he needed. some more slaves if they was good. ones, so he took me and. started

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Oklahoma Vlriterst Project out early in the morning. It wasn t very far anc1~ we got there early before the auction starteL Rockon that was the first time I ever see any slaves sold.. They was a long platform made of heavy pianks sx~d all the slaves was lined. up on the platform, and taey was stripped. to the waist, men, wonien, and. children. One or two of the women folks was bare naked. They wasntt young women neither, just middle age ones, but they was built good. Some of them was well greased. and. that grease covered up many a scar they d. earned. for some fool ishinent or other. The Master ~on t btiy none and pretty soon we starts some. The Master was riding horseback, ~ he didn t ever use nobuggy tcause he said. that was the way for folks to travel who was too feeble to sit in the saddle ~ .~nd. I rod.e back of hirn on another horse, but that horse I rid.es is just horse while the Master s was a real thoroi~hbred like maybe you. see on race tracks down in the South. That auction kept bothering me all the way back to the plantation. I kept seeing them little children stand.ing on the flatforin (platform), their mammy and. pappy crying hard. tcause their young ims is being sold. They was a lot of heartaches even they was slaves and. it gets me worried.. ~ I asked. the Master is he going to have an auction and. he jest laiLigh. I aintt never sold. no slaves yet and. I alntt going to, he says. And I gets easier right then. I kind. of hates to think about standing up on one of them platforms, kind.er sorry to leave my old niainmy and. the Master, so I was easy in the heart when he talked. like that. The plantation house was a big frame and. the yard. was shaded. with trees all around. The Mastert s children four b oys and. two girls ~ would play in the yard. with me just like I was one of the faniiy. And. wetd. go hunting and. f~ishing. There was a creek not far away and. they was good. fishing ix~ the stream and. squirrels in the trees. Mighty lot 6f fun to catch them fishes but more f~m when they is all fried. brown arid. ready for to eat with a piece of hot pone. -2- ~ J49

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Ok1ahom~ 7lriters Project Ain t no fish ever taste that good sincel One thing I sort of ponders about. The o1d~ Master d.on t let us haire no religion meetings and. reading and. writing is something I learn after the ~Tar. Some of the slaves talk about meeting round the country and wants to have preaching on the plantation. Master says NO. No preacher arourul here.to tell about the Bible and religion will be just a puzzlement, the Master say, and~ we let it go at that. I reckon that was the only thing he was set against. That and~ the Yankees. The Master went to the %Var an~ stayea ttil it was most over. He was a mighty sick man when he come back to the old. place, but I was there wait ing for him just like always . All the t une he was ~ .away I take care around the house. That~s what~ he say for me to do when he rides away to fight the Yankees. Lot s of talk about the War but the slaves goes right on working just the saine, raising cotton and. tobacco. The slaves talk a heap about Lincoln and some trys to run away to the North. Don t hear much about Jeff Davis, mostly Lincoln. He give us slaves the freedom but we was better off as we was. . ~ The a~ay of freedom come around justan3r other day, except the Master say for me to bring up the horses, we is going to town. That s when he hears ahout the slaves being free. V~e gets to the town and the Master goes into the store. It s pretty early but the streets was filled with folks talking and I wonder what makes the Master in such a hurry when he comes out of the ~tore. . He gets on his horse and. tells nie to follow fast . ~%~jn we gets back to the plantation he sounds the horn calling the slaves. They come in from the fields and. meet tro~nd. back of the kitc~ien building that stood separate from the Masterts house. They all keeps quiet while the Master talksl You.-all is free now, and. all the rest of the slaves is free too. Nobody owns you now and. nobody going to ~i~n you anymore! ~iat was go od. news I reckon but nobody know ..3~. 150

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~. ~ Oklahoma Writers1 Project that to ~ do about it . The cropswas mostly in and. the Master v~ants the folks to stay tu the crop is finished. They talk about it the rest of that. day. They wasntt no celebration round the place, but they wasntt no work after the Master tells us we is free. Nobody leave the place though. Not tu in the fall when the work is throi~h. Then some of us go into the town and. gets work cause everybody knows the Allison slaves was the right kind. of folks to have around. That was the first money I earn and. then I have to learn how to spend it. That was the hardest part tcause the prices was high and the wages was low. Then I moves on and meets the gal that maybe I been looking for, Louisa Baker, and. right away she takes to me and we is married. Aintt been no other woman but her and shes waiting for me wherever the dead waits for the living. . I reckon she won t have so long to wait now, even if I is feeling pretty spry and got good use of the feets aiid baths. Ninety~eight years brings a heap of wear and some of these days the old body ll need a long time rest and then I ll join her for all the time. I is ready for the New Day a cort~ing1 -4... 151.

Mrs. Isabella Jackson. Age 79 yrs. Tulsa , Okla. 157 152

350096 . Oklahoma Writers Project !x- Slaves. 152 ~ ~ j~\~~ 1Age 79 yrs. ~ ~ Tulsa, Okia. ~3oom . . . ~oom! ~oom . . . ~ That s the way the old weaver go all day long when my sister, Margaret, is maldxig cloth for the slaves down on old~ Doc Joe Jacksonts plantation in Louisiana. That was near the little place of Bunker, and its my birthplace, and I guess where all Maimnyts children were born because she was never sold. but once and. nobody but the old Doc ever did own her after she come to his place. He always say could.nt t ~ nobody get work out of Mainn~y but him. I gueps thatts just his foolery tcause if she ain t no good. the Old Doc most likely sell her to some of them white. folks in Texas. Thas what they done to them mean, no account slave s just send. them to Texas. Them folks sure knew how for to ha~id.le emi But I was talking about my sister, Margaret. I can still see her weaving the cloth ~ Booxn~ . . ~oornI arid. she hear that all the d.ay and. get mighty tfred.. Sometimes she drop her head. an~. go to sleep. The Mistress get her then sure. . Pap her on the head. with almost anything ~andy, but she hit pretty easy just trying to scare her that s all. The old. Mast er though, he am1 t so easy as that The whippings was done by the master and. the overseer just tell the old. Doc about the troubles, like the old Doc say: ~You just watch the slave s and. see they works and. works 1~ard, but d~o21 t ~.ay on with the whip because I i s the only one who knows how to do i~ rightl ,

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( OkI&ioma Writers Project ..~ ~ ~L~J Maybe the old. Master was sickened. of whippings from the stories the slaves told. about the plantation that joined. ours on the north. If they ever was a living Devil that plantation was his home and. the owner was I t I That ~ s what the old. slaves sa$ and. when I t eli you about it see if I is right. T :~at man got so mean even the white folks was scared. of him, specially if he was filled with drInk. Thatts the way he was most of the time, just before the slaves was freed. All the time we hear about slaves on that place getting whipped or being locked in the stocic that one of them things where your head and hands is fastened through holes in a wide board, and you stands there all the day and all the night and sometimes we hears of them staying in the stock for three-$our weeks if they trys to run away to the north. Sometimes we hears about some slave who is shot by that man while he is wild with the drink. That s what I ~xn t elling about now. Done t nobody know what made the master mad at the old slave one of the oldest on the place. Anyway, the nester didntt whip him; instead of that he kills him with the gun and scares the others so bad most of ein runs off and hides in the woods. The drunk master just drags the old dead slave to the graveyard which is down in the corner away from the growing crops, and. hunts lip two of the young boys who was hiding in the barn. He takes them to dig the grave. The ma~ter stands watchix~g every move they make, the dead man lays there with his face to the sky, and. the boys is so scared they could hardly dig. The master keeps telling them to hurry with the digging. After while he tells them to stop and. put the body in the grave. They wasn t no coffin, no box, for him. Just the old. clothes that he wears in the fields.

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.~3.. :154 Oklahoma Vlriters Project ~ut the grave was too short and. they start to digging some more, but the master stop them. He says to ~ut back the body lu the grave, and~ then he jumps into the grave hisseif. Right on the d.eacl he junrps and. stomps II, ~t 1 the body is mas~d. ami twisted. to fit the hole. Then the old. nigger is buried, That s the way my Mammy hears it and told it to us children. She was a Christian and. I know she told. the tru.th. ~ike I said, Mammy was Jver sold only to Master Jackson. Eut shets seen thorn slave auctions where the men, women and children was stripped naked. and. lined up so~ s the buyers could see what kind. of animals they was getting for their money. My pappyts naine was Jacob Keller and my mother was Maria. They s both dead lone a~go, and. 11m waiting for the old. ship Zion timt tookmy Mammy away, like we use to sing of in the woods: It has landed my old. Mammy, It has landed my old. Mammy, Get on board, ~et on board, tTis the Old Ship of Zion G~et on board!

Nellie Johnson. 160 155

3501(11 Oklahoma Writers Project ~ EX SLAVES ~ I d.on t ~iow how old. I is but I Is a great big h if grown gal when. the time of the ~7ar come, and. I can remember how everything look at that time, and. what all the people do, too. I ni pretty nigh to blind right now, and. all I can do is set on this little old. front porch and. maybe try to keep the things picked up be hing my grandchild and. his wife, because she has to work and~he is out sell ing wood. most of the time. But I didn t have to live in any such a house during the time I was young like they is, because I belonged. to old Chief Rolley McIntosh, and my pappy and mammy have a big, nice, clean log house to live in, and every thing round it look better than most renters got these days. We never did call old ~ Mast er anything but the Chief or the eneral for thatts what everybody called him in them days, and he never did act to vrards us like we was slaves, much anyways. He was the mikko 0 the Kawita town long before the War and long before I was borned, and he was the chief of the Lower Creeks even before he got to be the chief of all the Creeks. But just at the time of the War the Lower Creeks stayed with him and the Upper Creeks, at least them that lived along to the south of where we live, all go off after that old man G ouge, and he take most of the Seminole. too. I hear old Tuskenugge, the big man with the Seminoles, but I never did see him, nor mighty few of the Seniinoles. My mammy tells m old General ain t been living in that Xawita town very many years when I was borned. He come up there from down in the fork of the river where the Arkansas and the Verdigris run together a little while after all the last of the Creeks come out to the Territory. His brother :155

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Oklahoma ~1r1ters Project - 2~ P ~ IL) old. Chili Mcintosh, live down in that forks of the rivers too, but I d.on~t think he ever move up into that Kawita town. It was in the narrow stretch where the Verdigris come close to the Arkansas. They got a pretty good. sized white folks town there now they call Coweta, but the ol& Creek town was dif ferent from that. The folks lived all around in that stretch between the rivers, and my old. Master was the boss of all of them. For a long time after the Civil War they had a Thoiirt at the new town called Coweta court, and. a school house too, but before I was born they had~ a mission school down the Kawita Creek from where the town now is. ~arliest I can remember about my master was when he come to the slave settlement where we live and get out of the- buggy and. show a preacher all aroimd the place. That preacher named Mr. Loughridge, and. he was the man had the mission c1~own on Kawita Creek before I was born, but at that time he had. a school off at some other place. Re git down out the b~gy and talk to all us children, and. ask us how we getting along. . I didn~t even know at that time that old. Chief was my master, until my pappy tell me after he was gone. I think all the time he was another preacher. S ~ My pappys name was Jackson Mclnotsh, and. nu mammy name was Hagar, I think old Chief bring them out to the Territory when he come out with his brother Chili and the rest of the Creek people. My pappy tell me that old Masterts pappy was killed by the Creeks because he signed up a treaty to bring his folks out here, and old Master always hated that bunch of Creeks that done that. I think old. man Goi~ge was one of the big ~n in that bunch, and.

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Oklahoma ~Vriters Project ho fit in the War on the Government side, after he done holler anc~L go on so about the Governrnent making him come out here. ola_ Master haire lots of laM took up all around. that Ka~cita place and I a t know how much, but a lot more than anybody else He have it all fenced in with good rail fence, and ail the Negroes have all the horses and mules and tools they need. to work it with. They all live in good log houses they built themselves, and everything they need. Old Master s land warin t all in one big field, but a lot of little fields scattered all over the place. He just take up land what already was a kind. of prairie, and the niggers don~t have to clear up much woods. ~1e all live around on them little farms, and we dldntt have to be under any overseer like the Cherokee Negroes had. lots of times. ?Ie didntt have to work if they wasn t no work to do that day. Everybody could have a little patch of his own, too, and. work it between times, on Saturdays and. Sundays if he wanted to..What he made on that patch belong to him, end the old Chief never bothered the slaves about any.~ thing. Every slave can fix up his own cabin any way he want to and. pick out a good. place with a spring if be can find. one. Mostly the slave houses had just one big room with a stick- anc1-~mud chimney, just like the poor people among the Creeks had. Then they had a brush shelter built out of four poles with a roof macle out of brush, set out to one side of the house where they d~o the cooking and. eating, and sometimes the sleeping too. They set there when they is done working, and lay arotmd on corn shuck beds, because they never did. use the log house much only in cold and i~ainy weather. Old Chi ef just treat all the Negroes like ~ they was just hired hands, and I was a big girl before I ki~owed very much about belonging to him. I was one of the youngest chIldren in my family; only Sammy and. ..3.~ ~ 157

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Oklahoma Writers Project M~~ie was ~wiinger t~an I was. My big brothers was Mam, August and Nero, and. my big sisters was Flora, Nancy and. Rhoda. Vie could work a mighty big patch for our own selves when we was ail at home together, and put in all the work we had to for the old. Master too, but after the ~ar the big children all get married. off and took up land. of they own. Old Chief livecJ. in a big log house made double with a hail in between, and. a lot of white folks was always coming there to see hirn about something. He was gone off somewhere a lot of the time, to&, and he just trusted. the Negroes to look after his farms and stuff. We wou just g on out in the fields and. work the crops just like they was our own, and h never come around excepting when we had harvest time, or to tell us what he wanted. planted. Sometimes he would send. a Negro to tell us to gather up some chickens or turkeys or shoats he wanted to sell off, and sometimes he would send after loads of corn and wheat to sell. I heard my pappy say old Chief and Mr. Chill McIntosh was the first ones to have any wheat in the TerritDry, but I d.Ofltt 1~now about that. Along during the War the Negro men got pretty lazy and shiftless, but my pappy and. my big brothe~:s just go right on and work like they always did. My pappy always said we better off to stay on the place and work good and behave ourselves because old Master take care of us that way. But on s lots of other places the riten slipped off. ~ I never did see many soldiers during the Vlar, and there wasntt any fighting close to where we live. It was kind of down in the bottoms, not far from the Verdigris and that Gar Creek, and the soldiers wo~Ld have bad crossings if the come by our place. ~Ve did see some whackers riding arcrnnd. sonietimes, in little -.4.. 158

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Okiahonia Writers Project bunches of about a dozen, but they never did. bother us and never did. stop. Some 0 the Negro girls that I knowec3. of mixed. up with the poor Creeks and. Seminoles, and. some got married. to them after the Y~ar, but none of my family ever d.id. mix up with them that I 1Q~ows of. Along towards the last of the War I never diA see old Chief come around any more, and somebody say he went clown into Texas. He neverdid. come back that I knows of, and I think he died. d.own there. One day my pappy come home and. t eli us all that ~the Creek done sign up to quit the War, and that old. Master send word that we all free now and can take up some land for our own selves or just stay where we is if we want to. Pappy stayed. on that place where he was at until he died.. I got to be a ~ig girl and went down to work for a Creek family close to where they got that Checotah town now. At that time it was just all a scattered. settlement of Creeks and. they call it Etifaula town. After while I marry a man naine Joe Johnson, at a little settlement they call Rentesville. He have his freed.ments allotment close to that place, but mine is up on the Verdigris, and. we move up there to live. We just bad one child., named. Louisa, and. she married Tom Armstrong They had three four children, but one was named. Ton, and it is him I live with now. My husbandts been dead a long, long time now. -5~. 159

Mrs. Josie Jordan. Age 75 yrs. 165 160

Project ~ . ~ ~x -~S1aves 160 \c~1 ~ MRS. JOSI~JOPDA1~ p Age 75 yrs. . 840 East King St . Tulsa, Oklahoma. I was born right in the middle of the ar on the Mark Lowery planta.. tion at Sparta, in Thite County, Tennessee, so I dontt know E~nyth ng much a~bou t ther~i slave days eze ep t what my mammy to Id me long years ago ~ Cours e I mean the Civil War, for to us colored folks they just wasntt no other war as meanful as that one. . My mother she corne from Virginia when .little ~ir1, b~t never nobody teils me where at my pappy is from. His name was David Lowery when I was born, but I g~iess he had plenty other names for like my rna~my he was sold lots of times. Sauna was lay mwniny S name, and she belonged to a Mister Clark, who sold her and ~appy to Mark Lowery tcause she was a fighting, inule-headed woman. ~ It wasntt her fault tcause she was a fighter. The master who owned her before Mister Clark was one of them white mens who was always whiuoing and beating his slaves and mammy couldntt stand it no more. . : That s the way she tells me about i t . Sh just figgured she would be better off dead and out of her n~isery as to be whipped all the time, so one day the master claimed they was something wrong with her work and started ~ ~ to raise his whip, but .me~my fought back and when the ~ucIa~.s was over the Master ~ ~ was laying still on the ground and. folks thought he was dead, he got such a . / heavy beating. ~ . Maniiny says he dontt die and. right after that she was sold to Mister ~ ~ Clark I been telling you about. An& ma~nmy was full of misery for a long time

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Oklahoma V riters Project -2-. 161 after she was carried to L~ark Loviery s ~1antation where at I was born durin~ f the VIr. She bacl two chiJ ren while be1on~in~ to Mister Clark and. he wouldntt let them go with xna:.nmy and. pat~oy. Thc~t s wh~tt caused her rn!sery~ Pauoy tried to ease her rn nd.but she jest kept a crying forher babies, Ann a~nci Reuban, till L~ister Lowery ~ ot Clark to leave theni visit vrith her once a month. Mammy always says that Liark Lowery was a good master. But he d heard things abo it inaiuiny before he &ot her and I reckon was . curious to lrnow if they was all true. L~aim~y says he found out mighty quick ~hey was. It was manimy s second day on the plantation and Mark Lowery act d like he was going to v iiip her for soL~ethirg ~he d done or hadn t, but rna~imy knocked him pliw~b through the open cellar door. He wasntt hurt, not even iiiad for rnarir ~y says he climbed out the cellar a laughiflg, saying he was only fooling to see if she would fight. But mammy1s trOubles wasntt over t:~en, for Mark Lowery he ~ot himself a new young wife (1115 first wife was dead), and ma~my was round of the house most of the time after that, Right away they had tr uble. The Mistress was trying to make mammy hurry up with the woz~ and she hit mammy with the broom stick. M~imy s mule temper boiled up all over the kitchen and. the Master had. to stop the fighting. He wouldntt whip mammy for her part in the trouble, so the Mistress she sent word to her father and brothers and they come to Mister Lowery s ~lace. They was going to whip mam:~ly, they was good and mad. Master was good and. mad too and. he warned ~ em home . Whip your own slave s ~ He told them. Mine have to wo rk z~c1

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..~ ~ /.~ ~- ~ . ?~ _~ ~ *~~ k Oklahoma Writers Project ~ j_f theytre beat up they cantt do a clays work. et on hqme I ll take care ~ of this.~ And. they left. . ~ My folks IthI t haire no food troubles at Mark Lowery ~ like they did. soinewheres else. I remember mammy told. nie about one master who almost starved his slaves. Mi~hty st~.ngy I reckon he was. Some of them slaves was so poorly thin they ribs would kinder rastle against each other like corn stalks a~d.rying in the hot winds. But they gets even one hog~killin~ time, and it was funny too, mamy said. They was seven hogs, fat and. ready for fall hog~kil1i.n~ time. Just the day before old. master told. off they was to be killed something happened. to all them porkers . One of the fi eid. boys fo rnd. them and. come . ~ ~ a..telling the master: The hogs is all died, now they wontt be any meats for the winter. Then the master gets to where at the hogs I s laying, they s a lOt of Negroes standing round looking sorrow~eyed at the wasted meat. The master asks : t1~flat1 s the iilness with ~ ~ . Malitis. They tell him, and. they acts like they don t want to touch the hogs. Master says to dress them e~i~rway for they aintt no more meat on the place. ~ He say~ to keep all the meat for the slave f~nilies but thatt ~ ~ because he1 s afraid to eat it hi s self account of the hogst ~ot ma1iti~ ~ ~ Dontt you*~.all imow what is malitis? MaIrIIIiy would. ask the children when she was telling of the seven fat hogs a~ seveEty lean slaves. A~d she would laugh z emenib~ing. how they fooled the old. mas ter s to get all them : good meats. ~ : ~ - One of the stronge st iSTegros ~ go ~ up early in the morning Mammy would ~ e~Iain ~ !1o ~g I fore the r:i. sing horn. called. the slaves from their caMAs. ~ q ~g4~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ j

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~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~- ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Okiahonia Writers Project ~ 1~83 He skitted. to the hog pen with a heavy mallet in his hand.. Then he tapped. Mi ster Hog ~ tween the eyes wi th that mallet mali tis ~ set in mighty quick, bItt it was a urxcoirnnon tdiseaset even with hungry Negroes around all the time. Mainniy had me three sisters and. a brother vihile on the Lowery plantation. They was Liza, Addie, Alice and. Lincoln.. Itwas a long time after the War and. we was all freed before we left old. Master Lowery. Stayed. right~ there where we was at home, working in. the field.s, living in the same.old cabins, just like before the~ar. Neir~r did. have no big troubles after the War, except one time the Ku 1~,ux Klan broke up a church meeting and. whipped some of the 1~e~roes. - The preacher was telling about the Bible d.ays when the ~.an ra~.e up. They was all masked. it~ and. everybod.y crawled. imd.er the benches. when. they shouted.: UWe li ~nake you d.anm niggers wi sh you wasn~ t tree! ~ j~tist about did.. The preacher got the worst whipping, bloud. was running ~z~ ~in his nose and. mouth and. ears, and. they left him laying on the floor. . . They whipped. the womezi just like the men, but Mammy and. the girls at t touched none and. we run all t~ie way back to the cabin . Layed. down with all our ob thes on and. tried. ~to sleep but we ~ s too sca-irt to close our . . ~a~my reckoned old. Master Lowery.was ~ night, else wetd got a flogging too, ~ ~: ~ ~ ~ We first moved abcnit a nile from Master Lowery s p~~and ~.r week wetcl aSi~.maflim3r ~f we cb~iid~n co uld. go seeoid. Master an&she dsay: Tes, if yo~i~al1 are good. niggers L~ - er was to see US chi 4rerx and. he would. gi,e

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Oklahoma Writerst Project The old ~1antations gone, the old Masters gone, the old slaves is gone, and I ll be a going some of these days, too, for I been here a mighty long tinie and. they aiutt nobody need.s r~e now tcause I is too old for ~y goode -.5-. 14

"Uncle" George G. King. Age 83 trs. Tulsa, Oklahoma. 170 165

r 350065 ~ ~ ? ~ ~ ~ Oklahoma Writerst Project - Ex~S1aves ~ 165 li:tflig.L!u G~ORGLG~KIN ~ Age 83 yrs ~ ~ ~ Tu ~ sa, Oklahoma ~ p ~Prayers for sale ... Prayers for sale .~ Uncle George chants in sing ~ song fashion as he roams arouiul Tulsats Greenwood Negro district ~ pockets fi11~d with prayer papers that are soiled and. dirty with constant handling. . But~ they are potent, Uncle G~eorge tells those who fear the coning of some trouble, disaster or just ordinary misery, and. there s a special prayer for each and. every trouble includi.ng one to keep away the bill collector when the young folks forget to make payments on the radio, the furniture, the car, or the SDrthg outfit purchased months ago from the cred.it clothier, . Its all in the Bible and. the Bible is his workshOp t caxise folks dont t biow how to pray. He s mighty old, is Uncle George King, and.hetll tell you that he was born on two~ hundred acres of Hell, but the whitefoiks called it Saimxel s plantation ( six miles N.L of Lexingtox~, South Carolina). . ICinder small for a plantation, Uncle George explains, but plenty room for that devil ov~erseer to la~r on the lash, and plenty Z oo~i for the old she- devil . Mistress to whip his ma~my~ til she w~as just a piece of living raw meats ~ T~ie old Master talked hard words, but the Mistress whipped. Lott s of difference, and Un le George ought to know, tcause he s felt the lash layed on pretty heavy when he was no older than kindergarten children of today. ~ L~ Mistress owned the slav s and. they oouldn~ t be sold without her. s~y s~. .~~Thatts the reason George was never sold, but the Master once tried ~ . ~ . ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ :. ~ ~ . . ~ ~ t1~

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Oklahoma Writers Project 2 166 to sell him c~use the beatings was breaking him dovrn. Old. Mistress said. tNot . and. used it for an excus e t o whip hi s Maimny. Uncle George remembers that, too. They crossed her wrists and. tied. them with a stout cord.. They made her bend over so that her arms was sticking back between her legs and. fastened. the arms with a stick sois she couldn t straighten up. He saw the Mistress pull his Mammy~s c1othe~ s over her head. sois the lash would reach the skin. He saw the overseer ~ay on the whip with hide busting blows that left her laying, all a shiver, on the ground, like a wounded. animal dying from the chase. . He saw the Mistress walk away, laughing, while his Mammy and groaned t~js old. Master standing there looking sad. and. wretched, could feel the blows on Mamm t s bared. back and. legs as much as she. The Mistress was a great believer in the~ power of punishnent, and. Uncle George remembers the old. log cabin jail built before the VTar, right on the plantation, where runaway slaves were stowed away till they would proxai~e to behave themselves. The old. jail was full up during most of the War. Three runaway slaves were still chained. to its floor when the Master gave word the Negroes were freea . ~ ~ They were Prince, Sanovey (his wife~, and. Henry, who were caught . and. whipped by the patrollers and. then brcught back to the plantation for another beating before being locked. in jail. ~ :.~be Mistress ordered. them chained., and the overseer would come S every morning with the saine question: Will you niggers promise not to ruri~ away no rnore?~ S ~ ~ S O But they ~0ii1~.i ~ promise... Cue at a time the overseer would. ~ loosei~. t~e ehe~ina, and lead. them from the jail to cut them with powerful blows s creamed. like he

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Oklahoma Writers Project . -~3 ~. from the lash, then drag them back to be chained. until the next day when more lickings were given ~cause they woulthi t promise. The jail was emptied. on the day Master Roll called together all the men, women ana children to tell them they wasntt slaves no more. Uncle George tells it this way: . ~ The Master he says we are all free, but it dontt mean we is whit e. And~ it don t mean we i~ ep.ial . Just equal for t o wc~rk and. earn our own living and. not d.epend. on him for no more meats and. clother. Food~ was scarce before the War; it was worse after the shooting and. killing was over, and. Uncle G eorge saysj There wasntt no corn bread, no bacon - just trash eating trash, like when General Sherman marched down thro,igh the country taking everything the soldiers could lug away, and. burning all along the way. Wasnt t nothing to eat aft er ~ he march by. Darkies search round the barns, maybe find some grains of corn in the manure, and. theytd parch the grains nothing else to eat except . s omet Ines at night Mammy would skit out and. steal scraps from the Masterts house for the children. t, She had lot s of hungry mouths too . They was seven of us then, six boys and~ a girl, ~liza. Theboys was Wesley, Simeon, Moses, Peter, Wiilia~n and me, George. This pappyts name was Griffin. : But they was other pa~p~s (Matnin~ told. him) when Eva was born long before any of us and~ Laura corne next but from a whit e daddy. Mawny . lost them when she was sold around on the markets. The Kla a they ~ done lots & riding round the country. One ~ night the ~ fl~ d;o~ to. the old slave qu~r .. ters~ where the cabins is all squared round ~aeh othe~r, and called e-ve~ ybod.~ outtio~rs. They s looking or two women. ~ ~ ; (r~.r~ ~ rrrr~r;rr~. ~ ~ -y.~ ~ ~ rr~ ~ ~ ~ r~ ~t:~ ~ . ~ c~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~. . .~ .~ .~ ~ ~ ~r ~ . ~ ~. ~ ~ ~ .. ~ ~ ~ .~ j..; ~ : : . ~ ~ ~ . ~ ~ . ~ :~ . ... .. . ~:. . ~ ~ ~ ~ ~) ~

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Oklahoma ~Vriters Project Is They ricks ~ em out of the crowd. right quick and say they b een. with white men. Says their children is by white men, and. they re going to get whi ped. so s they ll remember to stay with their own kind. The women kick and scream, but the mens grab them and. roll them over a barrel and let fly with the whiD.~ It was a long time after the Civil Vi~ that Uncle George got his first schooling or attended regular church rneetings. Like he says: setting up at four o clock in the morning, hoeing in the fields all day, doing chores vthen they come in from the fields, an~. then ~oiddling with the weaver~til nine or ten every night it just didn t leave no time for reading and such, even if we was allowea to. And religion, that c2ine later too, for during the old Ilantation days Uncle G eorge s white folks didntt think a Negro needed religion thei~e wasn t a Heaven for Negroes anyhow. Finally, though, the Master gave them right to hold meetings on the plantation, and old Peter Coon was the preacher. The overseer was there with gaards to keep the Negroes from getting too much riled up when old Peter started talking Bbout PaiiJ. or some of the things in the Old Testa ment. Thatts all he would talk about; nothing bout Jesus, just Paul and the Old Testament. His Mammy went to every meeting. Like he says: She Imew them good. things was good for her children and she told us about the Bible. Like his old. Mammy, Uncle George is a firm believer in the power of the word. Prayers are savings Uncle George says, But theyts lots of fo)J~s dontt ~1~iow how to pray. Thatts why he has prayers for sale ~ and he 1~ows they are never failing, If you tack ~em up on the wall and say ~em over an& over every day they s sure to be answered. -4-. :168

Martha King. Age 85 yrs. McAlester, Oklahoma. 174 169

0~ G1Q1~:, Project . ExSlaves ~ .~ jG9 ~ ~ ~~RTHA ICING ~ . ~ ~ Age 85 yrs. . T McA . e st er, Oklahoma ~~%\ ~ ~ ~ . ~ ~ey hung Jeff Davis to a sour apple tree! . They hung Jeff Davis to a sour apple tree! They hung 3eff Davis to a sour apple tree! ~ While we go marching on! Dat w~as de song d.e Yankees sang when they marched by our house. They didntt harm us in any way. I guess as War was over thezi tcause a few days after dit old. Master say, ~~Matt~, and. I say, USuh?~ He say, UCome here. You go tell Henry I say come out here and. to bring the rest of the niggers with him.~ I went to the north door and I say, Henry, Master Willis say ever one of you come out here. Vie all went outside and line up in front of old. Master. He say, ~Henry . Henry say, AYes sah . Old. Master say, Every one of you is free as free as I am. You all can leave or stay round~ here if you want to~ We all stayed on for a long time toause we didn~t have no other home and &id~n t know how to take keer of ourselves. We was kind of scare& I reckon, Finally I heard n~y mother was in Walker County, Alabaina1a~ I left and. went to live with her. ~1~r mother was Harriet Davis and she was born in Virginia. I don t % know who my father was. My grandmother was captured in Africa when she was a little girL ~ A big boat was d.own at the edge of a bay an~ the people was all excited about it an~ some of the bravest wetit up purty close to look at it . The men on the boat told. them to come on board and. they ~ could have the pretty red. handkerchiefs,: red. a~d blue beads and big rings. Abt of them went on board and, the ship saile5 away with them. My graMniother never saw ~ ~ ~: ~ of her folks ~ain~ k

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Oklahoma Th~ ters1 Project ~ ~ .2.~ ~ :t7() ~ . Then I was about five years old. they brought my gr~ndzcr~her, my mother ar~d my two aunts and. two uncles to Thska .oosa from Payettesville, A1abaiiii~,. ~e crossed a big river on a ferry boat. They put us on the b1ock~ and. sold us. I can remember it well. A whiteman fl~~j~~tt me off just like I was a animal or varmint or something. He said, Here s a little nigger, who will give me a bid. on her. She will make a good. house gal someday. Old . man Davi s give him ~3OO . 00 for me. I don t ~ know whether I was afraid or not; I don t think I cared just so I had soinethin~ to eat. I was allus hungry. Miss ~ grandmother and one of my aunts and uncles. Old man Davis bought the rest of us. Uncle Henry looked after me when he could. I could see my mother once in awhile but not often. I had. a purty easy tine. I did&t have to work very hard. till I was about ten years old. I started working in the field and I had to work in the weaving room too. We made all our own clothes. I spun and wove cotton and wool. Old. Master bought our shoes. We made fancy cloth. We could stripe the cloth or check it or leave it plain. ~Te also wove coverlids and jeans to make mens suits out of. I could still do that if I had to. ~ We a3~l went to church with the white folks. ~e didnt t have no colored~preachers. The niggers would get happy and shout all over the placee Sometinies theyt d fall out doors. The Big House was a double log, two story house, not very fine but awful comfortable. They was four big fireplace rooms downstairs and two upstairs. Then they was two sort of shed rooms. There was a big piazza across the front. ~ ~he kitchen was a w&y off from the house, seems like it was 200 feet at least .~ O~ir quart ers were close by at the back. He dicin t have inan~ slaves aM they was n arly all my kinf lkS. There was Aunt ~nmy and.

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Oklahoma Writers~ Project . ...~. . 171 Phillis, Uncles Henry, Mitchell, Louis and. Andy, and. the others were Uncle Logan and. Uncle Nathan. They was old. Mistresst slaves when she done iriarried., Old Master and old. Mistress had. three boys, Eli, Bills and. Dock. They had to go to war and old. Mi stress shot cUd. cry. She say they might get killed and. she might not see ~em any more. I won~.er why all dem white folks didntt think of that when they sold mothers away from they chillun. I had. to be sold. away from my mother. Two of her boys was badly wounded. but they all come back. Abe Lincoln done everything he could for the niggers. We lost our best friend when he got killed.

George Kye. Age 110 yrs. Fort Gibson, Okla. 177 172

~r-c~r~i :~ L) J J ~- J ~I. ~) Okl hoina Writers Project Zx Siaves 172 ~ORGE KY:~ Age 110 yrs. ~ ort Gibson, Okia. I was born in Arkansas under Mr. Abraham Stover, on a big farm about twenty miles north of Van Buron. I was plumb grown when the Civil War come along, but I caii remember back when the Ch rokee Indians was lu all that part of the country. Joe Kye was my p~ppy~s name what he was born tinder back in Garrison County, Vir~inia, and. I took that name when I was freed, b ~it I done t knew whether he took lt or not because he was sold off by old Master Stover when I was a child. I never have seen him since. I think he wouldn~t mind. good, leastways that what my mammy say. My mammy was named Jennie and I don t think I had any brothers or sisters, but they was a whole lot of children at the quarters that I played and lived with. I didntt live with ir~animy because she worked all the time, and us children all stayed in one house. It was a little one room log cabin, chinked and. daubed, and. you couldn1t stir us with a stick. When we went to eat we bad a big pan and all ate out of it. One what ate the fastest got the most. Us children ~re homespuu shirts and britches and. little slips, and nobody but the big boys wore any britches. I ~re just a shirt until I was about 12 years old, but it had. a long tail. down to my calves. Pour or five of us boys slept inpne bed, and it was made of hewed. logs with rspe laced acrost it and a shuck mattress. We had stew made out of pork and. potatoes, and. sometimes greens and. pot liquor, and. we had ash cake mostly, but biscuits about once a month. In the winter time I had. brass toed. shoes made on the place, and. a

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Okt:ahoiia Writerst Project -2- cloth cap with ear flaps. The work I done was ho eing and. plowing ~ud I rid. a hoi se a b t for old. Master because I was a goodrid.er. He would eend. me to run chores for him, like going to the mill. He never beat his negroes bo.t he talked mighty cross and. glared at us witil he would nearly scare us to death some-~ times. He told. us the rules and. we lived by them and. d dZIt t make trouble, but they was a neighbor ms~n that had some mean negroes and. he nearly beat them to death. We could. hear them hollering in the field sometimes. They would sleep in the cotton rows, and run off, and then they would catch the cat.-~o..nine tails sure nuff. He would. chain them up, too and keep them tied. out to trees, and when they went to the field they would be chained. together in bunches someti~ nes after they had. been cutting up. We didn~t have no place to go to church, but old. Master didii~t care it we bad. singing and. praying, and. we would tie our shoes on our backs and go down the road close to the white church and all set down and. put our shoes on and. go up close and. listen to the service. Old. Master was baptized almost every Sunday and. cussed us all out on Monday. I did.ntt join the church until after freedom, arid I~always was a scoundrel for dancing. My favorite preacher was old Pete Conway. He was the only ordained colored. preacher we had. after freedom, a~id. he married. me. Old. Master wouldn t let us take herb medicine, and. he got all our medicine in Van Buren when we was sick. But I wore a buckeye on my neck just the same. When the War come along I was a grown man, and I went off to serve

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Oklahoma Writers1 Project - 3~. because old. Mamter was too old. to go, but he had. to send somebody anyways~ I served as George Stover, but every time the sergeant would. eaU. out ~Abe Stovor , I would answer Hereif. They had me driving a mule team wagon that Old. Master furnished, and I went with the Sesesh soldiers from Van Buren to Texarkana and. back a. dozen times or more. I was in the War tio years, right up to the day of freedom, We had a battle cloBe to Texarkana and another big one near Van Buren, but I never left Arkansas arA never got a scratcia. One time In the Texarkana battle I was behind some pine trees and. the bullets cut the limbs down all over nie. I ~ a big hole with my bare hands before I hardly 1a~owed how I done it. One time two white soldiers named Levy and Bri~gs come to the wagon train and. said. they was hunting slaves for some purpose. So~ of us black boys got scared because we heard they was going to Squire Mack and get a reward for catching runaways, so me and two more lit out of there. They took out after us and we got to a big moimd. in the woods and. hid~. Somebody shot at me and. I rolled into some bushes. He rid. up and. got down to look for me but I was on t other side of his horse and he never did see me. When they was gone we went back to the wagons just as the regiment was pulling out and the officer didn1t say nothing. They was eleven negro boys served in my regiment for their masters. The first year was mighty hard because we coulthi t get enoi~gh to eat. Some ate poke greens without no grease and took down and died. How I knowed. I ~ free, we was ba~1 licked, I reckon. Anyways, we quit fighting and a Federal soldier come up to my wagon and say Whose mules? Abe Stoverts mu1es,~ I says, and he tells me then, Let me tell

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Ok1~ioma Writers Project ~ 4 ~ j#5 ) you, black boy, you are as free now as old. Abe Sto~ver his own self! ~ When he ~ i& that I jumped on top of one of them mules ~ back ~ before I knowed. anything! I married Sarah Richarason, Pebruary 10, 1870, and had only eleven children. One son is a deacon and one grandson is a preacher. X am a good. Baptist. Before I w~e married I said. to the galts old. man, ~I~ll go to the mourners bench if you ll let me have Sal, and eure nuff I joined up just a month after I got her. I am head. of the SuMay School and. d.eacon in the St ~ Paul. Bapti et church in Muskogee . now. I lived about five miles from Van Buren until about twelve years ago when they found. oil and~ then they ran all the negroes out az~d leased. up the land. They never did. treat the negroes good. around there anyways. I never had. a hard time as a slave, Imt I~m glatt we was set free. Sometimes we caritt figger out the best thing to d.o but anyways we can lead. our own life now, and. I~m glad. the young ones can learn and. get some-. where these days.

Mary Lindsay. Age 91 yrs. Tulsa, Oklahoma. 183 178

:: Oklah~~~ers~ Project !~SlaTee . . . I~IARY LI1~DSAY . . ~ . ~t~ip~i~ 1 Age 91 yrs. ~ ~ Tu.l sa Oklahoma. My slavery da~1rs viasntt like most people.tell you about, tcause I was ~:;ive to my youn1~ Mistress and sent away to Texas vhen I was jest a little girl, and I d.idn t live on a big plantation a very long time. I got an old~family Bible what say I was born on September 20, in 1846, but I d.on t knOw vzho ~ut ~ writing in it unless it was my mammyts mistress. My mammy had. de boo~: vthen she clic. My inanmiy coLle out to the Indian country from mississippi two years before I was born. She was the slave of a Ohickasaw part- breed name Sobe L ire. He was the kinsfolks of if~r. Benjamin Love and. Mr. Henry Love what bring two big bunches cf the Chickasaws out from Mississippi to the Ohoct~.w country when the Ohickasaws ~i~n un de treaty t leave MississippI, anI the whole Love family settle tround on the Red. R~.ver below Fort ~asb ta. There whar I was born. S My manrniy say &ey have a terrible hard. ~ time again the sickness when they Lrst come out into that country, because it was low and. swanipy and. all full of cane brakes and. everybody have the smallpox and. the malaria and. fever all the time. Lots o;f1 theOhickasaw families nearly d.ied. off. Old S be Lo~ re marry her off to a slave named. Viilliam, what, belons to ~ a full blood ChLcka~aw man name Chick-rna lathe, and. I was one of d.e children. : De children belong to the ovraer of the mother, and. nie and. my brother Frat~klin., What we:calle& ~I tifl&1 r was born un~er the name of LoTe and. then . old. Master Sobe bought my pappy William, and. we w~,sall LovesIavesthen~.~y mammy had. two more~iz~1s, nameZetty and Rena., ~ ~ ~ . ~ ~ . ~ . . : ~ 14yina~nynarne,~was Mary,au~. ~. was nain~ed. after her. Old. Mi~tress~~ . ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

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Oklahoma Writers Pro~ject - 2~ 179 name was Lottie, and. they had. a daughter name Mary. Old. Master Sobe was powerful rich, and. he had~ about a hundred slaves and. four or five big pieces of th~t bottom land. broke out for farms. He had niggers on all the n1aces,~-b~it didu~t have no overseers, jest hisseif and he went around. and. seen that everybody behave and. do they work right. old. Master Sobe was a mighty bigman in the tribe, and. so was all his k~info1ks, and. they went to Fort Washita and. to Boggy Depot all the tIme on business, and. leave the Negroes to look after old. Miatress and. the young daught er She was almo st grown along ab out that t ime when I can first remember about things. tCause my name was Mary, and. so was niy mammys ~ and. my young Mistress too, Old. Master Sobe called me Mary Ka...Chubbe to show which Mary he wa~ talking about. Miss Mary bave a black woman name Viel what wait on her all the time, and do the carding and spinning and. cooking round the house, and. Vici belong to Miss Mary. I never did go tround the Big House, but jest stayed. in the quarters with my mammy and. pappy and. helped. in the field a little. Then one day Miss Mary run off with a man aM married him, and. old. Master Sobe nearly went crazyl The man was nsme Bill Merrick, and~ he was a . poor blacksmith and jj~~t have two pair of britches to his name, and. old. Master Sobe said. he j est stole Miss Mary ~ cause she was rich, and. no other r ason. Cause he was a white man and. she was mostly Chickasaw Indian. ~A.nyways old Master Sobs wouldntt even speak to Mr. Bill, and would.n1t let him set foot on the place. He jest reared and. pitched around, and. threatened to shoot him if he set eyes on him, and. Mr. Bill took Miss Mary ~nd left. ~ out for Texas. He set up a blac~csmith shop on the big road between ~ B nham and Roney ~ and ived there I~iItiI he died.

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: ~ - ~ ~- ~-~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ C,-. ~ ~ ~ ~ . ~ ~1~ ~~g Oklahoma Writers Project ~-3~ # . Miss Mary done took Vici. along with her, and~ pretty soon she corns back hor~i~ and st~:Ly a while, and. old Master Sobe kind of soften upa little bit and~ give her some money to ~it ~tart~d. cii, and~ he cive her me too. Dat jest nearly broke my old. mammy s and pappy s heart, to bave me took away off from them, ~ut the~r couldn t say nothing an~ I hadto go along tTith i~1iss LI~ry back to Texas~ Then we git away fron the ~ig ~ouse I jest cried ana cried until I cou1dn~t hardly see, myeye~ was so swole up, but Mis s Wiary said. she gvrine to be good to me . ~ ~ I ask her how come Master Sobe ciidn t 1give her some of the grovm boys and~ she say she reckon it because he d.i ~n t want to help her husband out none, but jest wanted to help. her. If he give her a r~ian her husband- have him working in the blacksrni th shop she reckon . ~ Master Bill Merrick was a harcl worker, and. he was more sober than most the men in~ them days, anti he ne~er tell me to do nothing. He jest let Miss M~.r:r tell me what to d~o. They have a log house close to the sh~p, and. a little :~atch ofa field at first, but after awhile he gi.t morel~nd~, and then Miss Mary tell me an~ Vici we ~ot to hel~i in the fiels- too. ~Dhat sho w~s har& livin.g then ~ .1 have to git up at three o ~ clack sometimes so I have time to water the hosses and. slo~the hO~g~ aitd. feed. the chickens and milk the cows, and. then. git back to the house and. g t the bre&d~as t . That was during the time s when Mi ss ~ Mary . was having and. nursing her two childXeU,~afld.O1d. Vici had. to staywith her all the time. Master Bill nev r d.~4 d.onone of that kind. of~ woz k, but he had. to be in the shop . ~. ~ .-~ ~ ~ ~ sometimes until way late in the night, an& sometimes beroro daylight, to shoe PC -les 1w9se~ ~ omen and. fix wagons

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. ~ ~ ~ ~ .~ ~ ~ ~ i~ ~ ~-~ ~ ~ ~ . ~ ~ ~ ~ )~q ~ Oklahoma Writers1 Project ...4*. He was the slowes t one whIte man. I ever aid- see . He j e st move ~ routh like 1e aead. Lice fa11 n~ offtn him all the time and- everytt1~ he ~o to say anything ho talk so slo ~ that when he say on~ word- you could walk from here to way over there before he se~ de next word.. Ee .o&t look sick, and he ~vas powerful strong iii hi. s arms but he act like he &on ~ t feel good. j est the s~e . I remember ~rhen the War coiae. blostly by the people passin~ long the bi~road, we heard about it. First they was a lot of wagons ha1~I1n~ farm stuff into tovin to sell, anti. then purty soon they was soldiers on the wagons, an& they was coming out into the country to ~it the stuff ath Irnying it right at the place they find it. Then purty soon they commence to be little bunches of mens in so~dJ-er do the s ri ~ing up and. do wn the road ~o Ing soniewhar . They seem like they was lao stly yo an~ boys like and. they j e s t la~hing ath j ollyifl.g ath go Ing . on like they weis on a picnic.. ~ the soldiers CO3TIC ~I OU31d and ~ot a lot of the white men and~ took then off to the War even iffen they &ithi t want to ~o. Master~3ill never did. want to ~o, caus he had. his wife and. two little children, and. ariyv~aYS he was g t tine all the work he could do f ixin~ wagOns and. sho ei ig ho s se s with all the traffic on d.e road at that time!. Master Bill hadjest two ho~ses, for him and.~his wife to ride and. to work to the bia~gy, and. be had. one old. yoke ofoxen and. sotue more cattle. He gotso~ne~kind of a paper.i~ townand.be kept~ it withbim41the time, and.;w~1i.. the. so1di.ei ~ wou 4 cometo git hi.$ ~ ~ ~ WO~J j~5t~:~t paper ou tem and they let em. alone. . ~ ~ - . big

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Oklahoma Viriters Project ~ ~5a.. 182 cepting when it rain, and. they git all bogged ~ and. be strung all up and~ clown the road camping. They kept Master Bill in. the shop all the time, f&ing the things they bust trying to git the wagons outtn the mud. They was whole families of them, with they children and. they slaves along, and. they was coming in from every place because the Yankees was gitting in their part of the country, they say. ~Ve all git mighty scared. about the Yankees cofling but I ontt reckon they ever git tha~, tcause I never seen none, and. we wa~ right on the big road and. ~ie would. of seen them. They was a whole lot nore so1~iers in them brown looking jeans, round~about jackets and. cotton britches a~faunching up and. down the roa~L on their hosses, though. Them hoss soldiers would come b iling by, going east, all day and night, and. the two three days later on they would all tome tearing by going westi Dey actea like dey didn t imow whar dey gwine, but I reckon dey did. Den Master Bill4it,~ick. I reckon he more wore out and worried t1~n else, but he go down with de fever one d~y and it raining so hard and me and Vici cantt neither one go nowhar to git no help. Y~e fluts peach tree poultices on his head and wash him off all the time, until it quit rain ~iT~g so Mistress can go out on de road, and then a doctor man come from one of the bunches of soldiers and see Master Bill. He say he going be ail right and jest keep him quiet, and go on. Mistress have to tend de children and. Vici have to take care of er Bill and. look after the house, and dat leave me all by myself wid all rest of everything around the place. I got to feed all the stock and milk the cows and work in the field. too. Dat the first time I ever try to plow, and. I nearly git killed, tool I got me anything Mist re 3S Mas t the

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J Okla ioina Writers Project ~ a yowi~ yoke of oxens I bro1~ to pill the wagon, tcause Viel have to use the old. oxens to work the field. I had. to thke the wagon an~ go 1bout ten miles west to a patch of wood~s Master Bill owned. to git fire wood, ~ tcause we lived right Qfl a flat patch of prairie, and I bad. to choD and haul the wood by myself . I had. to ~it postoak to b~.rn in the kitchen fire~ ~lace and. willow for Matter Bill to nak charcoal out of to burn in his blacksmith fire. Well I hi t cii uo them young oxen to the plow ~nd they won1 t follow the row, ~nd so I ~o git the old ozens . One of tiie~ old oxens didn t know me and took in after me, and I couldn t hitch tern up. kid then it begins to rain again. . After the rain was ault I git the bucket and ~ milk the covrs, and it is time to water the hosses too, so I starts to the house with the milk and leeMng one of the hosses. Then I sits to the gate I drops the halter . across my arm and hooks the bucket of milk on my arm too, and starts to o~en the sate. The wind blow the gate wide orden, and it slap the hoes on the flank. That was then I nearly ~it killed! Out the hose go through the sate to the yard, and. down the bi~ road, and. my arm all tan~1ed up in the halter rope and me drag~in~ on the ground~ The first jump knock the wind out of me and I can t git loose, and that hass drag me down the road on the run imtil he meet up with a passel of soldiers and they stop him. . The next thins I knowe . I was laying on the back kitchen gallery, and some soldiers was pouring wateron me with a bucket. My arm was broke, and I was stove up so bad that I have to lay down for a whole week, and. Mis tre~s and~ Tic ,~ I:iave ~. to 1o all the work. ~ ~ . Jest a.s I gitting abis to walk t~0iim.~d here come some soldiers and ~ .~ ~-

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Oklahoma ~riters Project -.7- 184 say they come to git Master Bill for the ~Tar. He still in the bed. sick, and so they leave a parole paDer for him to stay until he ~it well, and then he got to go into Bonham and go with the soldi~rs to blacksmith for them that got the cannons, the man said. Mistress take on and cry and hold onto the manes coat and. beg, but lt don t do no good. She say they dontt belong in Texas but they belong in the Ohic ~saw Nation, but he say that don t do no good, tcause they living in Texas now. Master Bill jest stew and fret so, one night he fever git way up and. he go off into a kind of a sleep and about morning he died.. My broke arm begin to swell up and hurt me, and. I git sick with it again, and. Mis,~ git another doctor to corne look at it. He say I got bad. blood from it how come I git so sick, and he git out his imife out n his satchel and bleed. me in the other arm. The next day he come back and bleed me again two times, and. the next day one more time, and. then I git so sick I pi~ke and. he quit bleeding me. While I still sick Mistress pick up and go off to the Territory to her pappy and leavethe children tliar for Vici and me to look after. After while she come home for a day or two and. go off again somewhere else. Then the next time she corne home she say they been baying big battles in the Territory and her pappy moved. all his stuff dowii on the river, and. she home t o stay now. ~7e git along the best we can for a whole winter, hut we nearly starve to death, and then the next spring when we getting a little patch planted Mistress go Into Bonham and. come back and say we all free and. the ~7ar over. She say, You and Viol jest as free as I am, and a lot freer, I reckon, and they say I got to pay you if you work for me, but I aintt got no money to pay you. If you stay on with me and. help me I will feed and home you and I catt weave you some good dresses if you card and spin the cotton and wool.

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: Oklahoma ~riterst Project _8.: :t~ V(ell, I stayed on, tcause I didn t have no place to go, and I carded and spinned the cotton and. wool and. she make me just one dress. Viel didntt S do nothing but jest wait on the children and Mistress. Mistress go off again about a week, and when she cor~ie back I see she got soae money, but she didnt give us a~iy of it. S After while I asked. her a n1t she got sor~e money for nia,. and she say no am1 t she giving me a good home? Den I starts to fe~lirig like I amt S treated right. Every evening I git done with the won: and :~O~0Ut in the back yard and test stand and. look off to the west towards ~11I~, and wish I was at that place or some other place. . S Den along come a nigger boy and say he working for a family in Bonha~ and he git a dollar every week. He say Liistress got some kinfolks in Bonham and some of Llaster S&be Love s niggers living close to there. S So one night I jest put that new dress in a bundle and set foot right S do~m the big road a~-.walking viest, and clontt ~y nothing to nobody! ~ Its ten miles into Bonham, and I sits in town about daylight. I keeps on being afraid, ~1cause ~ can t ~ it it out n my mind I still belong to Mistress. S Pi~irty soon s:~rae ni~gers tells me a nigger n~ne Bruner Love living down west of Greenville and. I know that my brother Franklin ~ cause we, all called S him Brun,er . I don t re~nember how all I g! ts down to Greenville but I Imow I w~1ks most the way, and I finds Bruner. Him ~iid his wife working on a farm, and they say my sister Het t~ and my sister Rena what was little is l*ving with S my mammy way back up on the Red River. My ~ap~y done died in time of the War and I ~ d~idn ~ t know t . . S S Bruner taken me in a wagon and. we went to my ~a~iy, ~id I lived with S :.1~ imtU she died and. .Eet ty was marri~. Th n I married. a boy name He n.rr ~ ~ people wa~ from Georgiafl, and. he live with them way west at Cedar ~ ~ ~ ~ S

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. . ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ I Okiahoixia Writerst Project ~..9*.. ~ Mills, Texas. That wasri~ht close to Gordonville, on the Red. River. We live at Cedar Mill s ~ un tU. three my children was bo im and. then we corne to the Creek Nation in 1887, My last one was born here. My oldest is named~ Georgia on account of her pappy. He was born in Georgia and. that was. in 1838 ~o his whitefoiks got a book that say. My next child was Henry. Vie called him ~Vi1lia!n Henry, after my pappy and his pap:oy, Then conie Donie, and after wecorne here vie had Madison, my youn~e~t boy. . Illives with Henry here on this little place we got in Tulsa. t7h n we first corne here we cot. some lan ~ fo ~ $15 an acre from the Creek 1~ation, but our papers said we can only stay as lon~g as it is the Creek Nation. Then in 1901 comes the allotments, and ~e found out our land belong to a Creek Ind.ian, and. we have to pay him to let us stay on it. After while he makes us move off and vie b se out all around. But my daughter Donie g t a little lot, and vie trade it for this place about thirty year ago, when this town v:a~ a little place. ~

Mrs. Mattie Logan. Age 79 yrs. 192 187

35Q061 Oklahoma Triterst Project . Ex Slaves 187 ~p. M.LTTIE LOGAN Age 79 yi s. Route 5, West Tulsa, Oklahoma. This Is a mighty fitting time to be telling about the slave days, for I m just finished up celebrating ray sevent~r~.nine years of being arouM and~ the first part of my life was spent on the ol~3. John B. Lewis plantation down in old. Mississippi. Tes, sir! my birthday is just over. September 1 it was and. the year was 1858. Bornecl on the John B. Lewis plantation just ten mile so th of Jackson in the Mississippi country. Rankin County it was. My mother s name was ~cin~, and. father s name was Levi Miles. My mother was part Indian, for her mother was a ha . ~. blood Cherokee Indian from Virginia. . There was children a- plenty besides me. There was Sally, Julia, Thibbard, Ada, Ira, Anthony, Henry, Amanda, Mary, John, Laclnd.a, Daniel and. me, Mattie. That was my family. The mast er~ s family was a large one too . Six children was born to the Master and Mistress. Her name, his first wife, was J ennie, the second and. last was named, Louise. The children was, Bebecca, Mollie, Jennie, Susie, Silas, and. Begerlan. They kiM of leaned to females. Mymother b longed. to Mistress Jennie who tho~ight a heap of her, and. why shouldn t she? Mother nursed. all Mi se Jenni e ~ s child.ren because all of her young ones and. my mainmy~s was born so close together it wasn t no trouble at all for mammy to rai se the who le kaboodle of them. I was born about the same time as thebaby Jennie. They say ~ nursed on one breast while that white child, Jennie, pulled. away at the other! That was a pretty good. i&ea for ~the Mistress, for it d1&t keep hr tied. to the place and. she could. visit around. with her friends most any t line she want ed. i~oiit having to worry if the babies would. be fed or not.

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Oklahoma Writerst Project Mammy was the house girl and. account of that and. because her family w~s so large the Mistress fixed up a two room cabin right back of the Big House and. that ~ s where we lived.. The cabin had. a fireplace in one of the rooms, just like the rest of the slave cabins which was set in a row away from the Big House. In one room was bunk bed.s, just plain old. two by- fours with holes bored throagh the plank so~ ~ ropes could. be fastened. in and. across for to hold. the com~shuck mattress. My brothers and. sisters was allowed to play with the Master s children, but not with the children who belonged to the field Negroes. We just played yard. games like marbles and. tossing a ball. I dont t rightly reniember much about game s for there wasnt t too much fmi in them days even if we did. get raised wi th the Master s family. We wasn t allowed to learn any reading or writing. They say if they catched. a slave learning them things they d pull his finger nails offi ~ never saw that done, though. Each s~jve cabin had a stone fireplace in the end., just like ours, and. over the flames at daybreak was prepared the morning meal. That was the only meal the field negroes had to cook. All the other meals was fixed up by an old man and woman who was too old for field trucking. The peas, the beans, the turnips, the potatoes, all seasoned. up with fat meats and sometimes a ham bone, was cooked in a big iron kettle and. when meal time come they all gathered around the pot for a~ plenty of helpings! Corn bread and. buttermilk made up the rest of the meal. - Ten or fifteen hogs was butchered every fall and. the slaves would get the skins and. maybe a ham bone. That was all, except what was mixed in with the stews. hour was given out every Sunday morning and if a family run out of that before the next week, well they was just out hat s alit -2~ 188

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Oklahoma Writerst Protect ~489 ~ . The slaves got sinai amounts of vegetables from the plantation garden, but they didn t bave any gard.ens of their own. Everybody took what old. Master rationed out. Once in a while we had. rabbits anti. fish, but the best dish of a . . was the possum and. sweet potatoes baked together over re&4iot coals in the fireplace. N0~, that was something to eat! The Lewis plantation was about three hundred acres, with usually fifty slaves working on the place. Master Lewis was a trader. ~e couldn t sell of our family, for we belonged to Mi stress Jennie . ~ Negro girls the fat ones who was kind.er pretty, was the most sold. Poiks wanted them pretty bad. but the Mistress said. there wasn t going to be any selling of the girls who was inammyts child.ren. There was no overseer on our place, just the old. Master who did all the bos~sing. He wasn t too mean, but I ve seen him whip Old. John. Pd. run in the house to get away from the sight, but I could still hear Old John yelling, ~ray, Master! Oh! Pray, Master! ~ but I guess that there was more howling than there was hurting at that . My uncle LI Miles run away to the North and. joined with Yankees during the War. He was luc1~y to get away, for lots of them who tried it was ketched. up by the patrollers. L seen some of ~them once. They had. chains fastened. around the ii legs fast ened. to o just long enough to take a short step. No more running away with them chains anchoring the feets! There ~ t an~ negro churches close by our plantation . All the slaves who wanted. religion was allowed. to join the Methodist church because that was the Mistress1 church. . A doctor was called in when the slaves would. get sick. Hetd. give pills for most all the ailments, but once in a while, like when the

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Oklahoma Writers1 Project . ...4... 190 children would get the whooping cough, some old. negro would. try to cure them with home rnad.e remedies. The whooping cough cure was by using a land. turtle. Cut off his head and drain the blood into a cup. Then take a lump of sugar and. dip in the blood, eat the sugar and the coughing was supposed to stop. If it did or not I don t know. And that makes zne think about another cure they use to tell about. A cure for mean overseers. And. I d.on t mean kill, just scare him, that s all. They say the dure was tried on an overseer ~ho workec3. for Silas Stien, who was a slave owner living close by the Lewis plantation. It seems like this overseer was of the meanest kind, always whipping the slaves for no reason at all, and. the slaves tried. to f igu.re out a way to even up with him by chasing him off the place. One of the slaves told. how to cure him. Get a King snake and. put the snake in the overseerts cabin. Slip the snake in about, no, not about, but just exactly nine o clock at night. Seems like the time was important, why so, I dont remember now. That1s what the slaves did.. Pu.t in the snake and. out went the overseer. Never no more did he whip the slaves on that plantation because he wasntt working there no morel When he went, when he went, or how he went nobody knows, but they all say he went. That s what counted. ~ he was gone! The Yankees didn t come around our plantation during the war. All we heard was, They ll kill all the slaves, and. such hearing was a- plenty! After the war some man come to the plantation and. told. the field. negroes they was freeo B~.it he did.fltt know about the cabin we lived. in and di du1 t tell my ~ folks nothing about it . They learned. about the

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Ok1~ho~ Writers Project freedom from the old Master. That was some days after the man left the place. The Master called my mother and. father into the Big House and. told. them they was free. ~ ree like him. But he di&n t want my folks to leave aM they stayed, stayed there three year after they was free to go anywhere they wanted. The master paid them $200 a month to work for him and that wasn t so much 1f you stop to figure there was two grown folks and thirteen children who could do plenty of work around the place. But that money paid. for an 89- ~acre farm my folks bought not far from the old plantation and they moves onto it three year after the freedom come. I think Lincoln was a mighty good man, and. I think Roosevelt is trying to carry some of the good ideas Lincoln had. Lincoln would have done a heap more if he had. lived. The yowig negroes who are living now are selfish and. shiftless. They~ re not worth two cents and dcn t have the respect for other folks to get along right. That s wha~t ~ think. I been married three times, but no children did I have. The first man was ~ rank Morris, the next was Jim Thite, and the last was John Logan . All gone ~ Dead. Prom Mississippi I come to Idabel, Oklahoma, in 1909, two year after statehood. I moved to Muskogee in 1910, staying there while the times was good. and. coming to Tulsa some years ago. Itm pretty old and can~t work bard anymore, but I manage to get along. Itm glad to be free and. I dontt believe I could stand. them slavery days now at al . i 4ii my own boss, get up when I want, go to bed the saine way. Nobody to say this or that about what I do. ~ . Yes, I m glad to be freeL ~ -5e, j91

Kiziah Love. Age 93. Colbert, Okla. 197 192

350097 Oklahoma friters Project Ex Slaves 192 KIZIAH LOVE . ~Age93 ~ J1t Colbert, Ok .a. ~ T Lawd. help US, I sho1 remembers all about slavery times for I was a grown woman, married and. had. one baby when de ~ar done broke out. That was a sorry t line for some poor black folks but I gues s Mast er prank Co .bert ~ s nig~ers was about as well off as the best of tem. I can recollect things that happened way back better than I can things that happen now. Fui~n~. ain t it? Prank Colbert, a full blood Choctaw Indian, was my owner. He owned my mother but I don t remember much about my father. He died when I was a little youngtxn. ~y Mistresst name was Julie Colbert. She and Master Frank was de best folks that ever lived. All the niggers loved Master Frank and. knowed~jest what he wanted done and they tried their best to do it, too. I married Isom Love, a slave of Sam Love, another full-blood Indian ~ that lived on~jinin~ farm. We lived on Master Franks farm and IsoYwent back and. forth to work fer his master and I worked ever day fer mine. I don~t spect we could of done that way iffen we hadn~t of had Indian masters. They let us do a lot Like we pleased. jest so we got our work done and. d1dI1~t run off. Old Master Prank never worked us hard and. we had. plenty of good. food to eat. He never did like to put us under white overseers and never tried it but once. A white man come thro~ugh bere and. stopped ~verni~ht. He looked round the farm and. told. Master Prank that he wasntt gittlng half what he ought to out of his rich land.. He said he could take his bunch of hands and. double his amount of corn and. cotton. Ma~ter J~ ank told. him that he . never used. whit e overseers that he had~ one nigger that bossed around.some when he clidittt do it hisseif. He also

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P LAC E H O L D E R

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Oklahoma Writerst Project ..3.~ :194 out and. a . . the scent would. be on them st j cks and. the cat wouldnt t sm~1 at all. Theytd. cook it like they did. possum, bake it with taters or make dumplin~gs. We 1~ad~ plenty of salt. We ~ot that from G rand. Saline. Our coffee was made from parched meal or wheat bran, We made it from dried. sweet po tatoes that had. been parched, too. One of out~ choicest dishes was Tom Pashof& , an Indian dish. ~7etd take corn and. beat it in a mortar with a pestle. They took out the husks with a riddle and. a fariner. The riddle was a kind. of a sifter. Then it was beat fine enough to go through the ri&ile wet& put it in a pot and. cook it with fresh pork or beef. We cooked. our bread in a Dutch oven or in the ashes. Then we got sick we would take butterfly root ana. life- everlast Ing 5 and. boil it and. made a syrup and. take it for colds. Balmony an& queen ~ delight boiled and. mixed would. make good. blood med~icine. The slaves lived. in log cabins scattered back of the house. He wasn t afraid. they d. run off. They didn t know as much as the slaves in the states, I reckon. But Master Prank had a half brother that was as mean as he was good.. I believe he was the meanest man the sun ever shined. on. His naine was Buck Colbert and. he claimed he was a patroller. He was shot bad. to whup niggers. He d. stop a nigger and. ask him if he had. a pass and. even if they d.id. he1 d~ read it and. tell them they had. stayed~ over time and d~ beat I~in mc st to death. He ~ d. say they didn t have any busines s off the farm and. to ~it back there and stay there. One time he got mad. at hi s baby s nurse because she couldnt t git the baby to stop crying and. he hit her on the head with some fire tongs anl e, she di ed.. His wife got si ck and. ~he sent for me to come anI take care of her baby. I sho1 didii t want to go and I beggedso bardS for them not to make me that they sent an older woman who ha& a, baby of her own so she could. xwrse

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Oklahoma Writers Project the baby 1 necessary. In the night the baby woke up and. got to crying and. Master Buck called the woman and. told. her to g t him quiet. She was sleepy and. was sort of slow and. this made Buck mad. and. he mad.e her strip her clothes off to her waist and. he began to whip her. His wife tried to git him to quit and. he tol& her hetd. beat her iffen she dithi t shut up. Sick as as she was she slipped off and. went to Master ~ an1ct s and. woke him up and. got him to go ath make Buck quit whipping her. He lad. beat her so that she was cut up so bad~ she couldsi t nurse her own baby any more. Master Buck kept on being badtill one day he got mad. at one of his own brothers and. killed hirn. This made another one of his brothers mad. and he went to his house and killed. him. Everybod.y was glad. that Buck was dead.. We had. lots of visitors. Theytd. stop at the stage inn that we kept. One morning I was cleaning the rooms and. I found a piece of money in the bed where two men had. slept. I tho~ught it was a dime and. I showed it to my mammy and she told me it was a five dollar piece. I shot was happy fer I had. been wanbin~ some hoops fer my skirts like Misstress had so Mammy said she would keep my money ~ t il I could send fer the hoops . My brother go t my money from my mammy and. I didntt git my hoops fer a long time. Miss Julie give me some lat er. ehen me and my husband got married. we built us a log cabin about half way from Master Prankt s house and Mast er Sam ~ s house I would. go to work at Master Frankt ~ and Isom would. go to work at Mister Sam s One day I was at home with jest my baby and. a runner come by and. said. the Yankee soldiers was coming. I looked tround. and I knowed. they would git my chickens. I had. em in a pen right close to the house to keep the varmints from gitting tem so I decided to take up the boards in the floor and. put tem in there as the wall logw come to the ground. and. they coulthitt git out. By the time I got my

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Oklahoma Writers1 Project - 5 196 chickens unde~ the floor and. the ~ hous e 1ocked~ t ight the soldiers had. got so close I couJ.d~ hear their bugles blowing so I je st fairly flew over to old. Mast ert s hous e Them Yankees ciimP~.own the chimb ley aM got every one of my chickens and. they Id lied. about fifteen of Master Frank s hogs . He went down to their camp and told the captain about it and he paid him for his hogs and sent me some money for my chickens. ~e went to c aurch all the time. We )~d both white and colored preachers. Master Prank wasntt a Christian but he would help build brush- arbors fer us to have church under and. we shoe would 1~ave big meetings P11 tell you. One day Master Frank was going through the woods close to where niggers was having church. All on a sudden he started running and. beating hisseif and. hollering and the niggers all went to shouting and saying Thank the Lawd, Master Prank lias clone come through! Master Prank after a minute say, Yes, throi~gh the worst of tem.~ He had. run into a yellow jacket s nest. Iv One ~ight my old. mane ~ master sent him to Sherman, za. He aimed to come back that night so I stayed at home with jest my baby. It went to sleep so I set down on the steps to wait and ever minute I thought I could. hear Isom coming through the woods. All a sudden I heard a scream that fairly macle my hair stand up. My dog that was laying out in. the yard give a low growl and. come and. set down right by me He kept growling real low. Directly, right close to the house I heard that scream again. It sounded like a woman in mortal misery. I run into the house and. made the dog stay outside. I locked the door and then thought what must I do. Supposing Isom did. come home now and should. meet that awful thing? I heard it again. It wasnt t more ~ n a hundred yards from the house The dog scratched. on the

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Oklahoma Writ ers1 Proj ect door but I classent open it to let him In. I knowed. by this time that lt was a panther screaming. I turned my table over and. put it against the op~ng of the fireplace. I didn t aim fer that thing to come d~own the chimbley and. g t us. Purty soon I heard it again a little mite further away ~ it was going on by. I heard. a gun fire. Thank c od, I said., somebody else hearl lt and was shooting at it. I set there on the side of my bed. fer the rest of the night with my baby in my arms and. praying that Isom wouldntt corne home. He dldn1t come till aboutnine otclock the next morning anclI was that glad. to see him that I jest cried and cried. I ~ never seen many sperits but I ve seen a few. One day I was laying on n~ bed. here by myself. My son Ed. was cutting wood.. I d. been awful sick and I was powerful weak. I heard somebody walking real light like they was barefooted.. I said, Who~s dat? He catch hold. of my hand and. he ~as the littlest 1~nc1 I ever seen) and. he say, You been mighty sick and. I want you to come and go with me to Sherman to see a doctor. I say ~ I am $ t got nobody at Sherman what knows me He say, ~1Youtd better come and. go with me anyway. I jest lay there fer a minute and. didn t say nothing and purty soon he say, Haire you got any water?U I told hini the water was on the porch and he got up and. went outside and I set in. to calling Ed. He come hurrying and I asked hirn why he didn t lock the door when he went out and I told him to go see if he could see the little man and find. out what he wanted. He went out and looked everywhere but he couldn t find. him nor he couldn t even find. hi s tracks. I always keep a butcher knife near me but it was between the mat tress and. the feather bed and I could~~ ~ get to lt I dont t gu.e ss lt would 197

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-7e. 198 Oklahoma Writers1 Project have done any good. though fer I guess it was jest ~ spent. The funniest thing that ever happened to me was when I was a real young gal. Master and. Miss Julie was going to see one of his sisters that was sick. I went along to take care of the baby fer Miss Julie. ~he baby was about a year old. I had. a bag of clothes and the baby to carry. I was nidix~ a pacing mule and. it was plumb gentle. I was riding along behind Master Frank airici Miss Julie and. I went to sleep. I lost the bag of clothes and. never niissed it. Party soon I let the baby slip out of my lap and. I aon t know how far I went before I nearly fell off myself and. jest think how I felt when I missed that baby! I turned around. and. went back and. found the baby setting in. the trail sort of crying. He wasn~t~hurt a mite as he fell in the grass. I got off the mule and. picked hirn u~ and. had. to look fer a log so I could get back on again. Jest as I got back on Master Frank rode up. He had. missed me and come back to see what was wrong. I told. him that I had lost the bag of clothes but I didn~t say anything about losing the baby. We never did. find. the do the s and I sho kept awake the ne s t of tb e way. I wasn!t going to risk losing that precious baby again! I guess the reason he didn t cry much was be~ cause he was a Indian baby. He was shot a sweet baby though. Jest before the War people would. come through the Territory stealing nig1ers and selling tem in the states. Lis women dassent git fur from the house. ~ e wouldntt even go to the spring if we happened to see a strange wagon or horsebacker. One of Master Sam Love1s women was stole and sold. down in Texas. After freedom she made her way back to her fambly. Master Frank sent one of my brothers to Sherman on an errand. After several days the mule come back but we never did. see my brother again. ~e didn t know whether he

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Oklahoma Writers1 project 8- 199 rim off or was stole and. sold. I was glad to be free. What did. I do and say? Well, I jest clapped my hands together and said, ~ Thank God Almighty, Itse free at last! I live on the forty acres that the govermnent give me. I have been blind for nine years and. don t git off my bed. nruch. I live here with my son, Ed. Isom has been dead. for over forty years. I had fifteen children, but only ten of them are living.

Daniel William Lucas. Age 94 yrs. Red Bird, Okla. 205 200

350()66 . Oklahoma Writerst Project ~x Siaves 200 ~ D~I~1 L~i4LWO~k$. Age 94 yrs. . Red. Bird, Okia. I remember them slave days well as it was yesterday, and. when I get to remembering the very first thing comes back to me is the little log cabin where at I lived when I was a slave boy back tfore the rar. Just like yester .ay I see that little old. cabin standing on a bit of hill about a quarter.. rnile from the Master s brick man~ion, and I see into the cabin anc ~. there s the old. horne-~ma~ie bed. with rope cords a-holaing up the corn shuck bed.din~ where on I use to sleep after putting in the clay at hoeing cotton or following a slow time mule team lown the corn rows ~ till it got so d.ark the old overseer just naturally had to call it a day. And. then I see the old baker swinging in the fireplace. That cooked up the corn pone to go with the fat side meats the Master Doctor (didn t I tell you the Master was a loctor?) ~ive us for the meals of the week day. ~ut on a Sunday iriorning we always had. flour bread, excepting after the War is over and then we is lucky do we get anything. Just like yesterday I hear the old overseer making round of the dabins every day at four, and. I means in the morni ~, too, when the night sleep is the best, and the folkses tumbling out of the door getting ready Thr the fields. All~the mens dressed about the sanie. Just like me. Wearing the grey jeans with the blue shirt stuck in loose around. the belt, brogan shoes that feels like brakes on the feet about the hot time of day when the old sun~s a-grinnirig down like he was saying: ~work, niggers, work! And. the over~seer is saying the safle thix~ only we pays more att ention to him cause of the ship be sbakes around. when the gOifl~ gets kmnd r slow down the row.

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Oklahoma Writerst Project Now I sees them getting ready for the slave auction. Many of ~em there was. The Master Doctor done owned. about two hundred. slaves and. some times he sell some for to beat the bad. crops. There they1d stand on the wooden blocks, their faces greased and. shiny, their arms and. bodies pretty well greased too; seemed. like they looked better and stronger that way, maybe some other reason, I dunno. And when the auction was over lots of the slaves would try to figger out when would. the next one be and. worry some afraid. they d be stand.in~ up there waiting for the buyers to punch and. slap to see is they sound. of limb and able to do the days work without loafing down the rows. There~s the old. white preacher who tried to tell the slaves about the Lord. He had. a mighty hard j ob somet irnes cause of the teaching was hard. to understand.. And then then hetd. just seem to be riled with anger and. lay down the law of the Lord. between cuss words that all the slaves could under stand. So finally I guess everybody was religionized. even it was cussed. into t em right from the pulpit I That old. preacher always makes me think of haunts, tcause every evening when I drive up the cows for milking, there s a old., old. log cabin right on the way that I pass ~every night and. i t ~ s so haunted. won1 t nobody i:ass it after the darkness covers in the daylight. ~ ~ I cUthi t always get by t fore then, and. the sounds I hearl Like they was people inside jumping and. knocking on the floor, maybe they was dancing, I d.unno. But they was a light in the big room. Wasntt the moon a shining through the windows ei ther I cause sometime s I would, st op at the gate and say H1gLI~o, then out go the light and. the noises would. stop quick, like them haunts was a scairt as me and. then, then I run like the old. preacher ~ s Devil is after me with ail his forks. -2- 201

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Oklahoma writers Project .-3- 202 Then a1on~ come the VIar. The slaves would. g around from cabin to cabin telling each other about how mean and. cruel was the master or the over seer, and maybe some of them would. make for the North. They was the unlucky ones, tcause lots of times they was caugiit. ~ And. when the patrollers get tern caught, they was due for a heavy licking that would last for a lone time. The slave s cU&nt t know how to travel The tvay would. be marked. when theytd start North, but somehow theytd. get lost, tcause they didn t know one direction from another, they was so scairt. Just like yesterday I remember the close of the War. ~Tothing ex citing about it down on the plantation. Just the old. overseer come around. and say . The Yankee s has whipped the Rebel s and the War is over But the Old Master dontt want you to leave. Re just wants you to stay right on here where at is your home That ~ s what the Master say is best for you to do. ~ That s what I do, but some of them other slaves is kinder filled up with the idea of freedom and wants to find. out is it good or bad., so they leave and. scatter round. But I stays, and the Master Doctor he pays me ten dollars every month, gives me board and. my sleeping place just like always, and. when I gets sick there he is with the herb medicine for my ailment and. I is well again. It~s long after the War before I leaves the old place. And. thatt s when I gets married in 1885. That was my first licensed wife and we is married in Holly Springs. Her name was Josephine and we has maybe eight ten children, I dunno. And. I is thax~k al they amt t none of my children born slaves and. have to remember all them terrible days when we was ialed by the whip like ~ I remember it, just like it was yesterday.

Bert Luster. Age 85 yrs. Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. 208 203

Oklahoma Writers Project Bx~-S1aves 203 I? ~T LUSTER r ~ . .&~e 85 yrs. 1 ~?~ . Oklahoma City, Oklahoma :i ii be jest frank, l in not for shot when Iwas born, but it was in 1853. Dontt know the month, but I tvas sho born in 1853 in Watson Oomnty, Tennessee. You see my father was owned by Master Luster and~ my mother was o~vned by Ma/sters Joe and. 3111 Asterns (fathm and. son). I can remember when Master Astern move& from Watson County, Tex~nessee he brought me an& my mother with him to Barnum County Seat, Texas. Mastery Astern owned. about twelve slaves, and. d.ey was all Astern Vcept Miriah Elmore s ccii Jim. He owned. bout five or six hundred. acres of ground, and. de slaves raise~ and. shucked all de corn and picked all de cotton. De whites folks lived in a big double log house and. we slaves lived in log cabins. Our white folks fed us darki.esl We ate nearly ever thin,g dey ate. Dey ate turkey, chickens, ducks, geese, fish and we killed beef pork, rabbit s and deer. Yes and. possums too And when ever we killed beef we tanned the hide and dere was athi~e man who macle shoes for de white folks and us darkie s I t eli you I m not gonna lie dem white~ folks was good. to us darkies. Vie didn t have no mean overseer. Master Astern and his son j est told us niggers what to do and. we did. it but 50 miles away dem niggers Irnd. a mean overseer, and dey called him spoor white trash , old whoo sers and. somet ime old . red neck and he would 1 beat em turrible iffen dey didn t do j e st like he want ed. em to. Seem like I can hear dem I~nigger hounds barking now. You see whenever a dar1~ would get a permit to go off and would.nt 1 come back dey would. put de nigger hounds~ on his trail and. ru~ dat nigger down. De white women wove and spin our clothes. You brow dey had. looms, spins, and weavers. Us darkies would stay up all night sometime sept rating

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Oklahoma Writers Project cotton from the see . When d.ern old. darkies got sleepy dey would prop their eyes open wid straws. ~ Shot we wore v~ery fine clothes for dem days. You know d.ey dyed. the cloth with poke berries. We cradled. de wheat on pins caught the grain, carri ed. it to d.e mill and. had. it ground. Shot, I ate biscuits and. cornbread. too. Xeep telling you dat we ate. We got de very best of care when we got sir~k. Don t you let nobody tell you dein white folks tried to kill out dein &arkies tcause when a darkey took sick dey would. send. and. g t de very best doctors round. dat country. Dey would. give us ice water when we got sick. You see we put up ice in saw dust. in winter and. when a slave got sick dey give him ice water, sometimes sage tea and. chicken gruel. Dey wanted to keep dem darkies fat so dey could. git top price for tem, I never saw a slave sold., but my 1~alf brotherts white folks let him work and. buy his self. I was about 14, and. I milked. the cows, packed. water, seeded cotton, churned. milk up at de Big House and. jest first one chore and den another. }v~r mother cooked. up at de Big House. Dey was a lot of talk tbout conjure but I didntt believe in it. Course dem darkies could do everything to one another, and. have one another scared, but dey coulthitt conjure dat overseer and. stop hirn from beating tein nwar to death. Course he d.Id.U t flog em till dey doJ sumping. I married. ii~r woman, Nannie Wilkerson, 58 years ago. ~t was after slavery, and I love her hone st to God I d.oe e Course in dein days we dithi~ t buy no license, we jest got permits from old. Master and. jumped. over a broom stick and. jest got married.. . -2~ 204

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Oklab.orna ~r ters1 Project -.3.. 205 I shoe ~ hate when de Yanks come tcause our white folks was good to us, and jest take us right along to church with sein. We didntt work on Sad d,ays or Christmas. We raised gardens, truck patches and such for spending change. I shot caught hell after dem Yanks come. BeTht de war, you see de patroller rode all nite but wouldn t bother a daricey iffen he wouldntt run if. Why dem darkeys would run off I j est couldn t see. Dose Tax~ks treated old master and mistress so mean. Dey took aU his hams chickens and drove his cattle out of the past~re but did.n t bother us niggers honest. Dey drove old. master Aster offtn his own plantation and. we all hid in. de corn field. My mother took me to Greenville, Texas, tcause ri~r step pappy was one of dem half smart niggers round dere trying to preach and de Ku Kius Klah beat him half to death. Dere was some white folks who would take us to church wid. ~em -~ dis dis was aftah the war now ~- and one night we was all sitting up thar and one old. woman with one leg was dali and when dem Kians shot in amongst us niggers and. white folks aunt Mandy beat all of u~ hon~e. Yes euh. My first two teachers was two white men, and dem Kians shot in de hotel what dey lived in, but dey had school for us niggers jest de same. Aft er dat dose Kians got so bad. Uncle Sam sent solj ers down dere to keep peace. After de s olj ers come and. run de Klans out we worked hard dat fall and made good crops. 1Bout three years later I came to Indian Territory in search of educating my kids. . I landed here 46 years ago on a farm not far from now Oklahoma Cit7. e I got to be a prospVrous farmer. ~ bale of cotton amongst 5,000 bales won the bIne ribbon at G~uthrie Oklahonia and, dat bale of cot ton and. being a good.

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Oklahoma Writers1 Project democrat won for ~e a good. job as a clerk on the Agriculture Board. at the State Capitol. All de white folks liked me and. still like me and called me cotton king. I have jest three chillun living. Walter is parcel post clerk here at de post office d.owntown. Delia Jenkins, my ~1aughter is a housewife and Cleo Luckett, my other daughter, a common laborer. ~ Have been a christian 20 years. Jest got sorry for my wicked ways. I am a member of the Church of God.. My wife is a member~ of the Church of Christ. ~ I m a good. democrat and. she is a good. republican. My favt rit e songs s : Dark Was the Nite and. Cold. the Ground and. 11Could.ntt Hear Nobody Pray. I m gladsiavery is over, but I d.ontt think dem white folks was fighting to free us niggers. G od freed. us. Of course, Abraham Lincoln was a pretty fine man. Don t know nnich about Jeff Davis. Never seen hirn. Yes, and. Booker T. Washington. He was one of the i~Tegro leaders. Tie first Negro to represent the Negroes in WashIngton. He was a great leader. During slavery time never heerci. of a cullud. man cominittin~ tsault on a white woman. The white and. cullud. all went to church together too. Niggers and white shouted. alike. I remember some of the little games we played now: ~Poz in the wall , Mollie, Mollie Bride , and. Hide and. go seek. ~4m. 206

Stephen McCray. Age 88 yrs. Oklahoma City, Okla. 212 207

350088 : . Oklahoma Writ erst Proj ec t . ~x~~~S1aves 207 AU61 ; 1937 s~p~i~ MCCRAY ~ Age88yrs. Oklahoma City, Okia. ~ ~ I was born in Huntsville Count~r, Alabama, right where the Scottsboro boyswas in jail, in 1850. My parents was Wash and. Vlinnie McCray. They was the mother and. father of 22 chillun. Jest five lived to be grown and. the rest died. at baby age. My father s mother and. Lather was named. Man~dy and. Peter McCray, and. my mother s mother and. father was Buthie and. Charlie McCray. They all had. the saune Mast er, Mister McCray, all the way 1 ~ We live in log huts and. when I left home grown., I left my fol ~s living in the same lo.g huts. Beds was put together with ropes and. called~ rope beds, No springs was ever heard. of by white or cullud as I 1~iows of. All the work I ever done was pick up chips for my grandma to cook with. I was kept busy doing this all day. The big boys went out and. got rabbits, possums and. fish. I would. sho~.1 lak to be in old. Alabama fishing, tcause I am a fisherman. Thereis shot some pretty water in Alabama and. as swift as cars run here. Water so clear and. blue loll can see the fish way down, and. d.ey would.ntt bite to save your life. Slaves bad. their own gardens All got Friday and. ~ Sadday to work in garden during garden t tine I liked. cornbread. best and. I d. give a dollar to git some of the bread. we irnd. on those good. old. clays and. I ain t joking. I went in shirt tail all the time. Never had. on no pants tu I was 15 years old.. 3~o shoes, cept two or three winters. Never had a hat ttil I was a great ~ig boy. . Marriage was performed. by getting permission from Master and. go where the woman of your choi ce had. prepared. ~ the bed, undres s azid flat ~footed jump a~ ~broom stick together into the bed.

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Oklahoma ~Vriters Project ~2.. 208 Master had a brick house for hisseif and. the overseer. They was the only onez on the p1ace~ The overseer woke up the slaves all the way from 2 o clock till 4 otclock of mornings. Ee wasn~t nothing but white trash. Nothing else in the world but that. They worked. till they could.n t see how to work. I jest couldn t jedge the size of that big place, and there was a niess of slaves, not lesstn three hundred. I doesntt have no eggycation, ecigecation, or ejecation, and about all I c~i do is spell. I jest spell till I get the pronouncements. We had church, but iffen the white folks caught you at it you was beat most nigh to death. We used a big pot turned down to keep our voices down. Then we went to hear white preachers, he would say, Obi~y your master and. mistress.t1 I a~ a hard shell flint Baptist. I was baptized in Pine Bluff, Arkansas. Oi.r baptizing song was mostly 11O~ ~ordan~s Stormy Banks I ~tandt and our funeral song was ~ark Prom The Tomb. ~Ve had some slaves who would tr~r to run off to the North but the white folks would catch ~ with blood hounds and. beat em to death. Them patrollers done their work mostly at night. One night I was sleeping on cotton and the patrollers come to our house and ask for water. Happen we had plenty. They drunk a whole lot and got warm and. told my father to be a good nigger and they woulclnt t bother him at all . They raided. till General G rant come He sent . troops out looking for Klu Klux IClanners and. killed tem jest lak killing black birds. G eneral Grant was one of the men that caused us to set heah free today and able to talk together without being killed. I didntt and dontt believe in no conjure. No sensible person do either. ~Ve had a doctor on the place. Ever master had. a doctor who waited on his slaves, but we wore asafetida or onion round our necks to keep off diseases. A dime was put ~ round. a teething baby ~ neck to make it tooth easy, and it shot helped too. But today all folks done got tbove that.

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. Oklahoma Writerst Project ~ 209 The old. folks talked very little of freedom and. the chillun knew nothing at all of it, and. that they heard. they was daresome to mention it. Bushwhacker, nothing but poor white trash, come thoo and killed all the little nigger chillun they could. lay hands on. I was hi~ under the house with a big rag on my mouf many a time. Them Klu Klux after slavery shot got enough from them sold.lers to last tem. I was married to Kan Pryin 1884. Two chillim was born. The girl is living and the boy might be, but I don t know. My daughter works out in service. . I wish Lincoln was here now. Ke done more for the black face thai ~ny one in that seat. Old. Jeff Davis kept slavery up till eneral G rant met him at the battle. Lincoln sho1 snowed. him under. G eneral ~ant put fire under him jest lak Vin fixing to do my pipe. Booker T. Washington was jest all right. Every time I think of slavery and. if it done the race any gool, I think oi~ the story of the coon and. dog who met. The coon said to the d.og Whyis it ~ you re so fat and. I am so poor, and we is both animals?~ The dog said: I lay ~ round Master1s house and. let him kick me anci he gives me a piece of bread. right on. Said the coon to the dog: Better then that I stay poor. Them s my . sentiment. I m lak the coon, I don t believe in buse. I used to be the most wicked man in the world but a voice converted. me by saying, Friend, friend, ~hy is you better to everybody else than you is to your self? You are sending your sou . to hell. And. from that day I lived. like a Christian. . People here done t live right and I don t lak to tend. church. I base my Christian life on: Believe in me, trust my work and. you shall be saved, for I am God and beside me there is no other. ~

Marshall Mack. Age 83 yrs. Oklahoma City, Okla. 217 212

35O()~3 Oklahoma Writerst Project Ex~- S1aves 212 - I4ARSRLLL MLOK ~ Age83yrs. ~ Oklahoma City, Okia. ~ I was born September 10, 1854. I am the second child o ~ five. My mother was named Sylvestus MacIc and. my father Booker Huddleston. I do not remember niy mother1s master, tcause he died. before I was born. My Mistress was named~ Nancy Mack. She was the mother of six children, four boys and two girls. Three of dem boys went to the War and one packed. and. went off soinTh whar and nobo&y heard from him d~oing of the whole War. But soon as the War was over he come home and. he never told. whar he had. been. I never saw but one grown person flogged during slavery and. dat Was my mo the r The younger son of my mis tress whipped he r one morning in de kit chen. Hi s name was Jack. De slaves on Mistres ~ place was treated so good. all de peop le round and. ~ bout called us ~ Mack ~ s Free Niggers ~ Dis was 14 miles northwest of Liberty, county seat of Bedford. Coimty, Virginia. One d~ay while de War was going on, my Mistress got a letter from her son Jim wid. j e s t one line Dat was Mo thert Jackt ~ brains spat tered~ on my gun this morning. That was all he written. Jack Thxd.d.leston own d. my father, who was his lialf brother, and he was the meanest man. I ever seen. He flogged my father with tobacco sticks and~ my mother after these floggings (which I never seen) had to pick splinters out of his back. My father had to slip off a night to come and visit us. He lived a mile and. a half from our house on the south side of the Blue Ridge Mountains, and lt shot is a rocky country. Hetd. oversleep hisse ! a~id git up running. : We wov.ld stand in our door and hear him running oyez them rocks tu he got 1t~me. Es WaS trying to git d.ere before his niaster called him.

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Oklahoma Writerst Project . .~ . 213 It was a law among the slave-hold.ers that 1f youleft yorn master s place you had to have a pas s for if the patro lier caught yot without one, he would give you 9 and 30 lashes and. carry you to your master, and. 1f he was mean, you got the same again! On the 3-foot fireplace my mother and. father cooked ash cakes and. my father having to run to work, had. to wash his cakes off in a spring betwixt our house and his. My mother was the cook in the Big House. All the time we would. see tinigger traders coming through the country. I have seen men and. women cuffed. to 60 foot cbains being took to Lynchburg, to the block to be sold. Now I am talking bout what I know, for it would not mean one thing for me to lie. I am t jest heard. dis. My uncle John was a carpenter and. always took Mistress chiilim to school in a two-thorse surrey. On sech trips, th~e chillun learned my uncle t& read. and. write. Dey slipped and. done this, for it was a law among slave-thold.ers that a slave not be caught wid. a book. One morning when I was on my way to de mill with a sack of corn, I had. to go down de main pike. I saw sech a fog til I rid. close enough to see what was gwine on. I heard. someone say close up. ~ I was told. since dat it was Hood s Raid. They took every slave that could carry a gun. It was at dis time, Negroes went into de service. Lee was whipping Grant two battles to one tU. them raids, and den Grant whipped. Lee two battles to one, tcause he had. Negroes in the Union Army. Dey took Negroes and. all d.e white people s food.. Dey killed chickens and. picked dem on horseback. I hever will f orgit that time long as I live. . ~ Ever day I had. to get the mail for three families . I carried it around. in a bag and. each faintly took his. n out. I ~ I ~ one of the first Negro mailmen.

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.~3- 214 Ok1ahcn~ !riterst Project We had. church on the place and. had right good. mee tinge Ev erybod~ went and took part in the service. We had. to have passes to go off the place to the meetings. The child.ren wore just one garment from this time of year (spring) till the frost fell. Mistress1 daughters made dese. We sure kept healthy and~ fat. I will be 83 years of age September 10, 193? and. am enjoying my second eyes ight I could not see a thing hard.ly for some few years but now I can read. sometimes without glasses. I keep my lawn in first class shape and. work all the time I think this is ~ cause I never was treated bad. during slavery. t

Allen V. Manning. Age 87. Tulsa, Okla. 220 215

~$ 3 ()QSC .. ~ .~ ok1ahc;~a Wr t~rs~ Project ~ Ex~ S1aves. 215 ~ v,_ ~NIN~G ~ Age 87 . ~ )~~ ;~ Tulsa, Okia. . . I always been soniewhar in the South, mostly in Texas when I was a young man, and. of course us Negroes never got much of a show In court mat~ ters, but I reckon 1f I had. of had. the chance to set on a jury~I would of made a mighty poor out at it. No sir, I jest cantt set in judgernent on nobody, tcause I learned when I was jest a little boy that good. people and bad. people~makes no ~ difference which~jest keep on living and. doing like they been taught, and I jest can t seem to blame them none for what they do Iffen they been taught that way. ~ I was born in slavery, and. I belonged to a Baptist preacher. ~ Un~il ~ I I was fifteen years old. I was taught that I was his own che~ttel~property, and he could do with me like he wanted to, but he had. been taught that way too, and. we both believed it. I never did. hold nothing against him for being hard on Negroes sometimes, and I dontt think I ever would of had any trOuble even if I had. of growed up and died in slavery. ~ The young Negroes do&t know nothing tbout that today, and lots of them are rising up and amounting to something, and all us Negroes Is proud of them. You see, itts because they been taught that they got as good a show to be something as anybody, if they tries hard. Well, this old. ~egro 1~.iows one thing; they getting soinewheres ~ cause the young wMtefolks is letting them and helping them to do it, tcause the whitefoiks has been taught the same way, and I praise God its getting to be that way, too. But it all go to show, people do like they been taught to do. ~ Like I say, my master was a preacher and. a ~ind man, but he treated . the Negr es jest like they treated him. He been taught that they was jest

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Oklahoma Writerst Project Uke his work hosses, and if they act like they his work hosses they g t along all right. But if they dontt ~ h, oh! Like the Dixie song say, I was born ~~on a frosty mornin~~ at the plantation in Clarke County, Mississippi, in the fall of 1850 they tell me, The old place looked. the same a1~. the time I was a child, clean up to when we pull out and leave the second. year of the War. I can shet my eyes and. think about it and it seem to come right up in front of me jest like it looked., Prom my Pappyts cabin the Big House was off to the west, close to the big road, and. most of the fields stretched. off to the north. They was a big patch of woods off to the east, and. no much open land between us and the Chickasawhay River. Off to the southwest a few miles was the Bucatunna Creek, and the plantation was kind. of in the forks between them, a little ways east of ~xitman, Mississitpi. Old Master s people been living at that place a mighty long time, and. most the houses and barns was old. and. been re~aired tithe and time again, but it was a mighty pretty place. The Big House was built long, with a lot of rooms all in a row and a long porch, but it wasntt fine like a lot of the houses we seen as we passed by when we left that place to go to Louisiana, Old Master didn t have any overseer hired, but him and his boys looked. after the place and. had. a Negro we called the driver. We-all shore hated. that old. black man, but I forget his name now. That driver never was allowed to think up nothing for the sL~ves to do, but jest was told to make them work hard at what the master and. his boys told them to do. Thitefoiks had. to set them at a job and then old. driver would whoopity and whoopity around., end. egg them and egg them until they finish up, so they can go at something else. He worked hard. hisseif, though, and set a mighty hard pattern for the rest to keep up with. Like I say, he been taught he didntt know how to think, so he didn t t 17. 21G

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Ok1aho~ riters1 Project Old. Mistress name was Mary, and. they had. t~vo daughters, Levia and. Betty. Then they had. three eons. The oldest was named Bill Junior, and. he P was Ylumb grown when I ~as a boy, but the other two, Jedson and. Jim, was jest a little older then me. Old. Master did.n t have but two or three single Negroes, but he had several families, and. most of them was big ones. My own family was pretty good~ size, but three of the children was born free. Pa~py s name was 1~Ti11iam and Mammy s was Lucy. My brother Joe was the oldest child. and then come Adeline, Harriet, and. Texana and. Betty before the surrenaer, and. then Henry, Mattle and Louisa fter it. When the ~ar come along old. Master jest d.id.n t know what to do. He always been taught not to raise his hand. up and kill nobody- - no matter how come -~ and. he jest kept holding out against all them that was talking about fighting, and. he would.ntt go and. fight. He been taught that it was all right to have slaves and. treat them like he want to, but he been taught it was sinful to go fight and. kill to keep them, and. he lived up to what he been taught. They was some Choctaw people lived tround. there, and they flew up and. went right off to the ftar, and. Mr. Trot Hand. and. Mr. Joe Brown that had plantations on the big road. towards ~iitman both went off with their grown boys right at the start, but eid. Master was a preacher and he jest stayed out of it. I remember one day I wa~sent up to the Mg House and I heard old. Master and some men out at the gate xpounding about the War. Some of the men had on soldier clothes, and they acted. like they was mad.. Somebody tell me later on that they was getting up a home guard. because the yankees done got down in Alabama not far away, but old. Master wouldntt go in with them.

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Oklahoma Writerst Project -4~ 218 Two, three clays after that, it seems like, old Master come down to the Quarters and. say git everything bundled up and. in the wagons for a long trip. The Negroes all come in and. everybody pitch in to help pack UI) the wagons. Then old. Master look around. and. he cantt find. Andy. Andy was one Negro that never did. act like he been taught, and. old Master s patience about wore out with him anyways. ~Te all know that And~r done run off again, but we dldntt 1Q~OW where to. Leastwise all the Negroes tell old. Master that. But old. Master soon show us we clone the work and. he done the thinking! Ee j~st goes ahead and. keeps all the Negroes busy fixing up the wagons end bimdling up the stuff to travel, ami keeps us all in his sight all the time, an1 says nothing about Andy being gone. Then that night he sends for a white man name Olements that got some blood hounds, and. him and. Mr. Clements takes time about staying awake and watching all the cabins to see nobody slips out of them, Everybody was afraid to stick their head out. Early next morning we has all the wagons ready to drive ri~at ~ off, and old Master call AndY~ s brother up to hirn. He say, You go down to that spring and wait, and when ~.ndy come down to the spring to fill that cedar bucket you stole out n the smokehouse for him to g t water in you tell him to come on in here. Tell him I lcnow he is hiding out way down the branch whar he can come up wading the water clean up to the cornfield and the melon patch, so the hounds won1 t g t hi s scent, but ~ ~ going to send the hounds down there if he don t come on in right t~ Then we all knowed. we was for the work and old. Master was for the thinking, ~ cause pretty soon Andy come on in. Hetd been right whar old Master think he is.

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Ok1~hoina ~Tr terst Project .~ 219 About that time Mr. Sears corne. riding clown the big road. He was a deacon in old Masters ~ church, and. he see us all oacked up to leave aM so he light at the big gate and walk up to whar we is. He ask old. Master where we all light1n~ out for, and. old. Master say for Louisiana. ~e Negroes don1t know where that is, Then old. deacon say what old. Master going to do with Andy, ~ cause there stood Mr. Clements holding his bloodhounds and old. Master had his cat-~ o~nine- tai1s in his hand. Old Master sa;y just watch him, and. he tell Andy if he can make it to that big black gun tree down at the gate before th~ hounds g t him he can stay right ui in that tree and watch us all drive off, Then he tell Andy to git~ Poor ~&ndy jest git hold of the bottom limbs when the blood hounds grab him and pull him down onto the ground. Time old Master and. Mr. Clements git down there the hounds done tore off all Andy s clothes and bit him all over bad, He was rolling on the ground. and holding his shirt up ~ round his throat when Mr. Clenients git there and. pull the hounds off of him. Then old Master light in on him with that cat.~ onine-tails, and I dont ~ imow how many lashes he give him, but he jest bloody all over and done fainted pretty soon. Old. Deacon Sears stand It as long as he can and. then he step up and grab old. Mastert s ami and say, Time to stop, Brotherl Itin speaking in the name of Jesus! Old Master quit then, but he still powerftt . mad. I dont t think .~ he believe Andy going to make that tree when he tell him that. Then he turn on Audits brother and give him a good beating too, and. we all drive o~f and. leave Andy setting on the ground under a tree and old. Deacon standing by him. I d.ontt know what ever become of Andy, but I reckon maybe he went and. live with old. Deacon Sears until he was free.

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-6~ 220 Oklahoma ~riterst Project Then I think back and. remember It, it all seems kind~ of strange, but it seem like old. Master and. old. Deacon both think the same way. They kind. of understand that old. Master had a right to beat his Negro all he wanted to for running off~ and. he had a right to set the hounds on him if he did~ ~ut he shouldntt of beat him so hard after he told. him he was going let him off if he made the tree, and. he ought to keep his word. even if Andy was his own slave. That s the way both them white men had. been taught, and that was the way they both lived. ON Master had. about five wagons on that trip down into Louisiana, but they was all full of stulT and. onlythe old slaves and. children could ride in them. I was big enough to walk most of the time, but one time I walked in the sun so long that I got sick and they put me in the wagon for most the rest of the way. Vie would come to places where the people said. the Yankees had. been and gone, but we didn t run into any Yankees. They was most to the north of us I reckon, because we went on down to the south part of Mississippi and ferried across the big river at Baton Rouge. Then we went on to Lafayette, Louisiana, before we settled down anywhere. All us Negroes thought that was a mighty strange place. We would hear white folks talking and. we couithi t understand what they said, and lots of the Negroes talked the same wa~j, too. It was all full of French people around Lafayette, but they had all their nienfoiks in the Confederate.~ Army just the same. I seen lots of men in butternut clothes coming and going hither and yon, but they wasnt t in bunches. They was mostly coming home to see their folks. Everybody was scared all the time, and. two ~three times when old Master hired his Negroes out to work the man that hired them quit his place

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Qk1ahoi~ia Writers1 Project ...7.~. ~ 221 and. went on west before they got the croD in. But old. Master got a place and. we put in a cotton crop, and. I think he got some money by selling his place in Mississippi. Anyway, pretty soon after the cotton was all in he moves again and goes to a place on Simonette ~ for the winter. It amt a bit cold. in that ~lace, and. we d.id~tt have no fire cepting to cook, and. sometimes a little charcoal fire in some crock pots that the people left on the place when they went on out to Texas. ~ The next spring old Master lofaded. up again and. we stru.ck out for Texas, when the Yankees got tooclose again. But Master Bill didn t go to Texas, because the Confederates done come that winter and. made him go to the army. I think they took him to New Orleans, and. old. Master vras ho~ping mad, but he couldn t do anything or they would make him go too, even if he was a preacher. I think he left out of there partly because he didntt like the people at that place. They wasn t no Baptists around anywheres, ~ they. was all Catholics, and. old Master didn t like them. About that time it look like everybody in the world was going to Texas, When we would be going down the road we would have to walk along the side all the time to let the wagons go past, all loaded. with folks going to Texas. Pretty soon old. Master say git the wagons loaded again, and this time we start out with some other people, going north. ~e go north a while and. then turn west, and. cross the Sabine River and. go to Nachedoches, Texas. Me and my brother Joe and my sister Adeline walked nearly all the way, but my little sister Harriet and my mammy rid. in a wagon. Mammy was mighty poorly, a~nd jest when we got to the Sabine bottoms she had another baby. Old. Master didn t like it tcause it was a girl, but he named her Texana on accoimt

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Oklahoma ~Vriters Project . 8 222 of where she was born and. told. us children to wait on Mammy good. and. maybe we would get a little brother next time, But we cljdntt. O1d~ Master went with a whole bunch of wagons on out to the Draine country in Coryell County and set u~ a farm where we just had to break the sod and. didn t have to clear off much. And the next baby i~a:nrny had the next year was a girl. VTe named her Betty because Mistress jest haire a baby a little while before and its name was Betty. old_ Master s place was ri~t at the corner where Coryell aM L~cLennan arid Bosque Counties corne together, and we raise~a mostly cotton and. jest a little corn for feed. He seen~ like he changed a lot since we left :~ SS SS~~D~, and~ seem like he paid more attention to us and looked. after us better. But most the people that already live there when we git there was mighty hard. on their Negroes. They was mostly hard drinkers and hard. talkers, and. they work and. fight jest as hard. as they talk, toot One day Old Master come out from town and. tell us that we all been set free, and. we can go or stay jest as we wish. All of my family stay on the place and he pay us half as shares on all we make. Pretty soon the whitefolks begin to cut down on the shares, and the renters git only a third and. some less, and the Negroes begin to drift out to other places, but old Master stick to the halves a year or so after that. Then he come down to a third too. It seem like the white people cantt git over us beine free, and. they do eve~thing to hold us down all the time. ~7e dontt git no schools for a long time, and I never see the inside of a school. I jest grow up on hard. work. And we cantt go tround where they have the voting, unless we want to ketch a whipping some night, and. we have to jest keep on bowing and. scraping when we are troi~tid white folks like we did. when we was slaves. They had. us down and they kept us down. But that was the way they been taug,ht,

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Oklahoma Writers1 Project and. I do&t blame them for it none, I reckon. Then I g t about thirty years old I marry Betty Sadler close to taco, and we come up to the Creek Nation forty years ago. ~e orne to Muskogee first, and. then to Tulsa about thirty seven years ago. Vie had. ten children but only seven are alive. Three girls and a boy. live here in Tulsa and. we got one boy in Muskogee axid one at Frederick, Okl~homa. I sells milk and makes my living, and I keeps so busy I dontt think back on the old days much, but if anybody ask me why the Texas Negroes been kept down so much I can tell them. If they set like I did. on the b~k at that ferry across the Sabine, and see all that long line of covered wagons, miles and miles of them, crossing that river and going west with all they got left out of the War, it amt hard to understand. Them whitefoiks done had everything they had tore up, or had to run away from the places they lived, and they brung their Negroes out to Thxas and then right away they lost them too. They always had them Negroes, and lot s of them had mighty fine places back in the old. states, and then they had to go out and live in sod houses and little old boxed shotgwas and. turn their Negroes loose. They did.n t see no justice in it then, and most of them never did. until they died. ~e folks that stayed. at home and didntt straggle all over the country had their old. places to live on and. their old. friends around them, but them Texans was different. So I says, when they done us the way thy did. they was jeEt doing the way they was taught. Z don t blame thin, because an~ bod~ will do that. Whitefolks mighty decent to me now, and I always tried to teach my children to be respectful and act like they think the whitefoiks they d aling with e~cpects them to act. That the way to git along, because some folks been tau~it one way end some been taught another, and folks always thinks the way they been. taught. .

Bob Maynard, age 79. 229 223

350067 Oklahoma i~riterst Project ~x-sL~v~s 223 BOB MAYNARD, AG-E 79 ~ 23 East Choctaw Weleetka, Oklahoma. I was born near what Is now Marlin, Texas, Falls County. My father was Robert Maynard and. my mother was Chanle Maynard, both born slaves. Our Master, Gerard Bran,~in, was a very old. man ~ nd wore long white whiskers . ~ He sho was a fine built man and walked straight and. tall like a yoi~ng man. . I was too little to d.c much work so my job was to carry the key basket for old. Mistress. I shot was proud of that job. The baske~hela the keys to the pantry, the kitchen, the linen closet,and. extra keys to the rooms ana smokehouse. When ole. Mistress started out on her rounds every morning shetd~ call to me to get de basket and away wetd go. I,d. run errands for all the house help too, so I was kept purty busy. The big house was a fine one. It was a big two story white house made of pine ltimber. There was a big porch or veranda across the front and. win.gs on the east and west. The house faced south. There was big round. white poste that went clean up to the roof and. there was a big porch upstairs too. I believe the house was w1~t you d call colonial style. There was twelve or fifteen rooms and. a big wid.e stairway. It was a purty place, with a yard. and. big trees and. the house that set in a walnut and. pecan grove. They was graveled. walks and. d iveways and. all along by the d.riveway was cedars. There was a hedge close to the house and a flower garden with purty roses, holly hocks and. a lot of others I dontt 1~ow the name of. Back to the right of the house was the smokehouse, kept full of

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Okiahonia ~Vriterst Protect -2 224 meat, and. further back wa~ the big barns. Old Master kept a spanking pair of carriage horses and. several fine riding horses. He kept several pairs of mules, too, to pull the plow. He had. some ox teams too. To the left and back of the big house0 was the quarters. ~Ie owned. about two thousand acres of land. and. three himdred slaves. He kept a white overseer and. the colored. overlooker was ~y uncle. He shot saw that the gang worked. He saw to it that the cotton was took to the gin. They used. oxen to pull the wagons full of cotton. There was two gins on the plantation. Had. to have two for it was slow work to gin a bale of cotton as lt was run by horse power. Old. Master raised. hundreds of hogs; he raised practically all the food. we et. He gave the food. out to each family and. the done their own cooking except during barvest. The farm hand.s was fed at the big house.~ They was called. in from the farm by a big bell. siind~:y was our only day for recreation. We went to church at our own church and we could sinlancl. shout jest as loud. as we pleased and. it cII&t disturb nobod~y. ~ Thiring the week after supper we would. all set round. the doors out side and sing or play music. The only musical instruments we hs~d was a jug or big bottle, a skillet lid. or frying pan that theytd. hit with a stick or a bone. We had. a flute too, macle out of reed. cane and. ittd. make good. music. Some- times ~D~e d. sing and. d.aiice so long and. loud. old. Master d. have to make us stop and. go to bed.. The Patrollers, Ku Xltixers or night riders come by sometimes at night to scare the niggers aM make tem behave. Sometimes the slaves would rim off and the Patroller would catch tem and. have ~ whipped. Itve seen that done lots of times. They was some wooden stocks (a sort of trough) ana they~c put the de~rky in this and. strap him down, take off his olothere au&

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-.4.. Oklahoma Writers Project 225 give him 25 to 50 licks, ~ cording to what he had. done. I reckon old Master had. everything his heart could wish for at this time. Old Mistress was a fine lady and she always went dressed up. She wore long trains. on her skirt~ and I d walk behind her and hold. her train up v~hen she made de rounds. She was awful ~good to me. I slept on the floor in her little boyts room, and she cive me apples and candy just like she cUd. him. Old Master gave ever chick and child good warm clothesfor winter. We i~ad store bought~ shoes but the women made our clothes. For underwear we all wore tlowerst but no shirts. After the war started old Master took a lot of his slaves and. went to Natchez, Mississippi. He thought he d have a better chance of keeping us there I guess, and he was afraid wetd be greed and. he started. running with us I remember when General Grant blowed. up Vicksburg . I had a free born Uncle and. Aunt who sometimes visited in the north and they d till us how easy it was up there and it shot made us all want to be free. I think Abe Lincoln was next to de Lawd. He done all he could for de slaves; he set tern free. People in the South knowed. theytd lose their slaves when he was elected president. tFore the election he traveled. all over ~. the South and. he come to our house and. slept in old Mistresst bed. Didn t no.. body blow who he was It was a custom to take strangers in and put them up for one night or longer, so he come to our house and. he watched close. He seen r- how the niggers come in on Saturday and drawed. four pounds of meat and a peck of meal for a weekt s rat ions He also saw ~ em whipped and sold. Then he j got b~~ck up north he writ old Master a letter and told. him he was going to have to free bis slaves, that everybody was going to have to, that the North ~as going to see t o it He also t old him that he had vi. sit ec3. at his house t\ ~ and if he do bted. it to go in the room he slept ~n and loo ~ on the bedstead

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Oklahoma Writerst Project . - 5-, 226 at the head. and. he d. see where hetd. writ hi~ name, Shot ni~ff, there was hi~ naine A. Lincoln. Didn t nd(of us like Jeff Davis. We all liked Robert E. Lee, but we was glad that Grant whipped him. When the War was over, old. Master called all the darkies in and lined tem up in a row. He told. ~em they was free to go and. do as they pleased. It was six months before any of us left him. Darkies could vote in Mississippi. Fred Dou~glas, a colored. man, came to Natchex and made political speeches for General G~rant. After the war they was a big steam boat line on the Mississippi River Imown as the Robert E. Lee Line. They shot~was fine boats too. ~Ve used tohave lots of Confederate money. Five cent pieces, two bit pieces, half dollar bills and half dimes. During the war old Master di~ a long trench and buried all de silver ware, fine clothes, jewelry and. a lot of money. I guess he dug it lip, but I dontt remember. Master died three years a!ter the War. He took it purty good, losing his niggers and all. Lots of men killed theirselves. Old Master was a good old man. I m getting old, I reckon. I ve been married twice and am the father of 19 chillun. The oldest if 57 and my youngest is two boys ten and. twelve. I has great grandchillun older than them two boys.

Jane Montgomery. Age 80 yrs. 233 227

35008? Oklahoma Writerst Project ~x S1aves 22? ~ . JA*_MONTGOI~BY M~Q t~I 1937 . . ~ige ~ . Oklahoma City, Oklahoma ~ I was born March 15, 1857, i~ Homer, Louisiana. I claim to be 75 years old, but that s jest my way of counting. My mother was Sarah Strong and. my father was Edinond. Beavers. We lived in a log cabin that had. jest one .d.oor. I had. two sisters named. Peggy and. ECatie. Mammy was bought from the Strong family and. my pappy was bought from Beavers by Mister ~ason. We slept on wooden slabs which was jest make shift bed.s. I didntt do no work in slave times tcause I wa~ too little. You jest had to be good and. husky to work on that place. I listened and told mammy everything I heerd.. I ate right side dat old. white woman on the flot. I was a little busy-body, I don t recollect eating in our quarters on Sunday and. no other time. I don t remember no possmns and rabbits being on our place, ~ cause when white folks killed a chicken for their selves, dey killed. one for the niggers. My pappy never ate no cornbread. in all his put together. Meat was my favorite food., I never ate no dry bread. without no meat. ~e wore homespun clothes. My first pair of shoes was squirrel skin. ~Ma~y had tem made. We wore clothes called linsey that was wool and cotton mixed. My father was the onliest overseer. It was shoe a great big old place. My master jest seen the place on Sundays. They was jest seven Niggers on oui plantation. No working late at night but we Irnd to git up at daylight. When our day s work was done we went to bed, but somet imes they sung. Sadday was a holiday from working on the plantation. You had. ~ Sad.day to wash for yourself. We d.idXLt t &o nothing on Christmas and all holidays.

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Oklahoma Writerst Project ~2. 228 Mistress never whip us and. iffen master would start, mistress would. git a gun and. make him stop. She said, Let ever bitch whip her own chillun,8 I never seen no patrollers, I jest heerd of tem. They never come on our place. I guess they was scared to. The flu flu~c whipped. nig~ers when so never they could. catch tern. They rid. at night mostly. I am a Bap~tist. I belong to Calvary Baptist Chi~rch. I was baptl2ed. in a creek. Our favorite hymn was D~k Was the Night an~ Cold. the Ground.. Oui favorite revival hymn was Lord. I d. Come to Thee, a Sinner tTndefiled.. Our favorite funeral song was Hark From the Tomb .t~ ~T family did.nt t believe in conjure ~ all that stuff though . they s a heap of lt was going on and. still Is for that matter. They had. hands that was made up of all kinds of junk. You used. tem to make folks love you more~n they did. ~Ye used. asafetida to keep off smallpox and. measles. Put mole foots round. a baby s neck to make him teethe easy. ~e used. to use nine red. ant s tied. in a sack round. they neck to make ~ em teethe easy and. never had no trouble with ~ em neither . ~ ~ . . . . . . I think I seen a haunt once, ~cause when I looked the second. time, what I seen the first time was cone. Then the War was over, mistress1 son come home and. he cleaned. his guns on my dress tall. It shot stur~k up my dress and. made me sick too. He t old old. mi stre se that nigger s was free now . I went and. told mamiiiy that old. Betsys son told her the nigger s was free and what did. he mean. She said., ftShhhhhhlu ~hey never did. jest come out and tell us we was free. We was free in July and. mammy left in September. We lived In Jordan Saline, out from Smith County. Then my mother give me to my father cause she was married to another man. Her and my ~t ep.u father moved to Gilmore Texas . ~ They sent for me round. about Chri stmas and we lived on Sampers ~ farm.

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-3e. 229 Oklahoma ?lriterz Project . We lived so far out we could.nt t go to school ~ though they was for us ~e di&Th~ t own no land. . D1dn~ t nob ody learn me to read and write. Abe Lincoln was a good. man. It was through Mr. Lincoln t1i~t God fit to free us I dont t kno~w much ~ bout Jeff Davi s and clout t care nothing ~ bout him. Booker T. Washington built that school through God. He used to live in a cabin. jest lak I done~ He was shot a great man. I married~ Trole Kemp in 1883. I tmin.d you they didn t marry ~n slavery, they jest took up. Master jest cive a permit. I am the mother of 10 chillun and. 5 grandchillun. Four of my chillun died. young Them what ~ s living is doing different things sechas: writing policy, working on mad work, housework, government clerk and. hotel maid. One is in the pen.

Salomon Oliver. Age 78 yrs. Tulsa, Oklahoma. 239 233

~ O69 ~ ~ . . ~. . ~ . ~ Oklahoma Writerst Project Ex Slaves 233 ~ S4L 1~ON OLIVER Age 78 yre. - . . Tul sa Oklahoma . John A. Miller owned the finest plantation in Washington Ooi~rnty, lAississippi, about 12 mile east of Greenville. I was born on this 2O,OOO~acre plantation November 17, 1859, being one of about four htinclred slave children on the place. . About three hundred negro families living in box t~,pe cabins Thad.e it seem like a small town. Bu.ilt in rows, the cabins were lvept i~hite*ash d, neat and. orderly, for the Master was strict about such things. Several large barns and storage bu~il&ings were scattered around the plantation. 1. so two cotton gins and. two. old. fashioned presses, operated by horses and. imiles, mad.e Millert s plantation one of the best equipped. in Mississippi. ~ .. I Master J0b31 was quite a character. The big plantation didn t occupy all his time. He owned a bank in Vicksburg and another in New Orleans, atid only came to the plantation two or three times a year for a week or two visit. Thin s happened around there mighty quick when the Master showed u~. If the slates were not being treated right ~ out go the white overseer. Pired! The Master was a good man and tZISd to hire good. boss men. Master John was bad. after the slave women. A yellow child show up every once in a ~thile. Those kind. always got special prFvlleges because the Master said he di&ntt want his ~hil&reit whipped like the rest of them slaves. . My own Mammy, Mary, was the Mastert s own dau~hter! She married Saloao~ Oliver (who took the name of Oliver after the War) and the Mas ter told all the: slave drivers to . leave her alone and nOt whip her. Thi s made the overseerS j e~o~s of her and. caused troable. John Santhers was one of the white overseers who ~ ~ treated her b 4~, and. after I wa~ born and got~strong eflou~h (I was a weakling for

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Oklahoma WriterstProject .~ 234 three four years after birth), to d~o light chores he would. whip me just for the fun of lt. It was fun for him but not for me. I hoped. to ivhip him when I grew 1~p I That je the one thing I won1 t ever . Re ai ed. about the end. of the War so that s one thing I wontt ever get to do. My mother was high-.tempered and. she knew about the Master s orders not to whip her. I guess sometimes she took advantage aM ti~ied to do things that maybe wa&t right. But it did her no good. and one of the white men flogged her to death. She died. with scars on her back! Father use to preach to the slaves when a crowd of them could. slip off into the woods. I dontt remember much about the religious things, only just wbat Daddy told me when I was older. He was caught several times slipping off to the woods and because he was the preacher I gtxess they layed. on the lash a little harder trying to make him give up preaching. Ration day was Saturday. ~ach person was given a peck of corn mea ., four pOunds of wheat flour four pounds of pork meat piart of molas ses one pound of sugar, the saine of coffee and. a plug of tobacco. Potatoes and. vegetables came from the family garden ath each slave family was required to cultivate a separate garden. During the Civil War a battle ~as fought near the Miller plantation. The Yan kees under General orant came thro~h the country. They burned 2,000 bales of Miller cotton. When the Yankee wagons crossed Bayou Creek the bridge gave way and pute a number of soldiers and. horses were seriously injured. br many years after the War folks would find. bullets in~ the ground. ~ Some of the bullets were tt~jns1 fastened together with a chain. Master Miller settled my father upon a piece of lar~d after the War and we stayed on i. t several years doing well. I moved to Muskogee in 1902, coming on to Thisa in 1907, the s~e year Oklahoma was made a state. My six wives are all dead, Liza, Lizzie, lIllen,

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Oklahoma Writers Project -.3- 235 L~la Eli zabeth and. Henrietta. ~ Six child.ren too . George Auna Salomon, Nelson, Garfield, Cosmos -. all good. chul&ren. They~remember the Tulsa riot and. dontt aim ever to come back to Oklahoma. Then the riot started. in 1922 (1 think it was) I had. a place ou the corner of Pine and. Owasso Streets . Two ~ hundred. of my people gathered at my place, because I was so well ~own everybody figured. we wouldntt be molested. I was wrong. Two of my horses was shot and. killed. Two of my boys, Sa .omon and. Nelson, was wounded. one in the hip the o ther in the shou) er . They wasnt t bad. and. go t well airight. Some of my people wasnt t so lucky. The d~a& wagon hauled them away! White men came into the negro district an& gathered up the homeless. The houses were most all b~irned.. No place to go except to the camps where armed. whites kept everybod.y quiet . They took my do thes and. all my money - $298 . 00 and~ the police could.n1 t do nothing about my b es when I reported it to them. That was a terrible time, but we people are better off today that any time during the days of slavery. We have some privileges and. they are worth more than all the money in the world.!

Phyllis Petite. Age 83 yrs. Fort Gibson, Okla. 242 236

~35OOIO . S Oklahoma Writers Project Ex-Siaves 236 L~I~IS ~Tm~~T! Age 83 yrs. Port Gibson, Okl.a. S I was born in Rusk County, Texas, on a plantation about eight miIes east 0 Bellevlew, There wasutt no town where I was born, but they had. a church. My mammy and. pappy belonged to a part Cherokee named W. P. Thompson when I was born. He had. kinfoiks in the Cherokee Nation, and. we all moved up here to a place on Fourteen- Miie Creek close to where Hulbert now is, sway before I was big enough to remember anything. ~ so I been told, old. master Thompson sell my p~y and. mammy and. one of my baby bro them and. me back to one of s neigh bo rs in Texas name of John Harnage. Mammyts name was Letitia Thompson and pappyts was Riley Thompson. My little b~ther was named Johnson Thompson, ~it I had. another brother sold. to a Vann and. he always call hisse i Harry Vann. Rie Cherokee master I ived. on the Arkansas river cl o se to Webber~ s 7~1l s and. I never did. know him until we was both grown. My only sister was Patsy and. she was borned. after slavery and. d.ied. at Wagoner, Oklahoma. I can just remember when Master John Harnage took us to Texas. We went in a covered. wagon with oxen and. camped out all along the way. Mammy d.one the cooking in big wash kettles an~. pappy d.one the driving of the oxen. I would set in a wagon and listen to him pop his whip and. holler. Master John took us to his plantation and. it was a big one, too. You could. look from the field. up to the Big House and. any grown bod.y in the yard. look like a little body, it was so far away. We negroes lived. in quarters not far from the Big House and. ours was a single log house with a stick and. dirt chimney. We cooked. over the hot coals in the fireplace.

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Oklahoma Writerst Project -2- 237 I ju.st played arowtd until I was about six years old. I reckon, and then they put me up at the Big House with my mammy to work. She done all the cording and spinning and weaving, and. I done a whole lot of sweeping and. minding the baby. The baby was only about six ~nonths old. I reckon. I used to stand. by the cradle and. rock it all day, anti when t quit I would go to sleep right by the cra~Ue sometimes before mammy would come and. get me. The Big Hotae had great big rooms in front, and. they was fixed up nice, too. I remember when old. Mistress Ramage tried me out sweeping up the front room~~ They had. two or three great big pictures of some old. people hanging on the wall. They was fu. .l bl od. Indians it look like, and I was sure soared of thera pictures! I would go here and there and. every which a4.way, and anywlieres I go them big pictures always looking straight at me arid. watch Ing me sweeps I kept my eyes right on them so I could run if they moved, and old. Mi s tress take me back to the kitchen and say I can1 t sweep becauBe I miss a . . the dirt, We always have good. eating, like turnip greens cooked in a kettle with hog skins and cracki Ing grease and skinned co ru and rabbit o r po ssiim stew. I liked big fish tolerable well too, but I was afraid of the bones in the little ones. That skinned corn amt like the boiled hominy we have today. To make it you boil some wood ashes, or have some drip lye from the hopper to put in the hot water, Let the corn boil in the lye water until the skin drops off and the eyes drop out and then wash that corn in fresh water about a dozen times, or just keep carrying water from the spring until you are wore out, like I did.. Then you put the corn in a crock and set it in the

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Oklahoma Writers Project .p3~. 2~8 spring, and. you go t good. skinned corn as long as I t las t a . 1 ready to warm up a little batch at a time. Master had a big, long log kitchen setting away from the house, aM we set a big table for the family first, and. when they wa~ gone we negroes at the house eat at that table too but we done t use the china dishes. The negro cook was Tilda Chishoim. She and. my mammy didn~ t do no out. work. Aunt Tilda sure cou~Ld make them corn~dodgers. Us children would catch her eating her dinner first out of the kettles and. when we say some~ thing she say: ~Go on child, I jest . tasting that dinner. In the summer we had. cotton homespun clothes, and in winter it had. wool mixed in. They was dyed. with copperas and wild. Indigo. My brother, Johnson Thompson, would get up behind old. Master Barnage on his horse and. go with him to hunt squirrels so they would. go ~ on Masterts side sois he could. shoot them. Master~s old mare was named Old. Willow , aM she knowed when to stop and stand real still so he could. shoot. His children was just all over the placel He had. two houses full of theml I only remember 3e1 1 Ida, Mal ey, Mary aM Will but they was plenty more I don t rem~nber. That old. horn blowed. twa~y before daylight, and aU the field negroes had to be out in the row by the time of mm up. House negroes got up too, because old. Master always up to see everybody get out te;, work. Old. Master Barnage bought and. sold. slaves most all the time, and. some of the new negroes always acted up and needed. a licking. The worst ones got beat tip good,too~ They dIdn~t have no jail to put slaves in because when the Mas ters go t done licking them they di&n ~ t need no jail.

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Oklahoma Wrtterw Project -4-, 239 My husband was Goerge Petite. He tell me his mammy was sold. away from him when he was a little boy. Re lookei down a long lane after her just as long as he could see her, and. cried after her. He went down to the big road. and, Bet down by his msjnrny~s barefooted tracks in the sand. and. set there until it got dark, and then he come on back to the quarters. I just saw one slave try to get away right in hand. They caught him with bloodhounds and. brung him back in. The hounds had nearly tore him up, and he was sick a long time. I don t remember his naflie, but he wasn t one of the old~ regular negroes. In Texas we ha~i a church where we could go. I think it was ~. white church and. they just let the negroes have it when they go t a preacher sometimes. My mammy took me sometimes, and. she lo7ed. to sing them salva..~ tion songs. !e used. to carry news from one plantation to the other I reckon, ~eause mammy would tell about things going on some other plantation and I loaow ~he never been there. ~hri stmas no rning we always go t some bvown sugar candy or some molasses to pull and we children was up bright and. early to ge t that ~ lasses pull, I tell FOUi And. in the winter we played skeeting on the ice when the water froze over. No, I don t mean skating. That s when you got iron skates, and. we didIIt t have them things. We just get a running start a~ jump on the ice anti skeet as far as we could. go, and then run some more. I nearly busted my head. open, and. brother Johnson said: Try it again,0 but after that I was seared. to skee t any more. Mammy say we was down in Texas to ge t away from the War but I dHII ~ t see any war and. any soldiers. But one day old Master stay after he eat breakfast and. when us negroes come in to eat he say: After today I aim t

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Oklahoma Writers1 Project 5-, your master any more, You all as free as I am.~ We just stand ami look and. do n ~ t know wliat to say about I t. After whuls pappy got a wagon ath some oxen who was coming to the Cherokee Nation because he was Dave Mount s and. he had. a bo y named John. We conie with them and stopped at rort Gibson where my own granl ma~irny was cooking for the soldiers at the garrison, Her name was Phyllis Brewer aM I was named. after her. She had. a ~o od. Cherokee n~ s ter. My manuny was born on his place. We stayed with her about a week and. then we moved out on Pour Mile Creek to live. She died. on rourteen-Mile Creek about a year later. When we first went to Tour Mile Creek I seet~ negro women chopping wood and. asked them who they work for and. I found out they did.n ~ t know they was free yet. After a whil e my pappy aM mammy bo th iied. and I was to ok care of by my aunt Zlsie Vann. She took my brother Johnson too, but I & n t 1~w who took Harry V ann. I was n~rried. to George Petite, and I had. on a white underdress ath black hi~i~top shoes, and. a large cream colored hat, and on top of all I had a blue wool d.ress with tassels all around the bottom of it. That d~ress was fOr nie to eat the terrible supper. in. That what we called the wethting supper becauBe we eat too much of it. Just ianced all night, tool I was at Max&dy Postert B house in Port Gibson, and. the preacher was Reverent :Barrows. I had, that dress a long time, but iti gDne now. I still got the little sun bonnet I wore to church in Texas. We ha4 six ehild,ren, but all are d.eth but George, Tish, aM Annie now. to drive for a white man ha~1 folks he re Hi~ name 240

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Oklahoma Writers1 Project Yes, they tell nie Abraham Lincoln set me free, and I love to look at his picture on the wall In the school house at Pour Mile branch where they bave church. My g~M mammy kind. of help start that church, aiid I think everybody ought to belong to some church. I want to say again my Master Barnage was but he was a good. man and mighty good. to us slaves, end you can see I am more than six feet high and they say I W~i~11B over a huthred. and. sixty, even if my hair is snoir white. -6.. 241

Matilda Poe. Age 80 yrs. McAlester, Okla. 248 242

~- ~r~(1f~1 7 ~ J ~j u Oklahoma Writerst Project Ex-Slaves 242 MATILDA PO~ A e 80 yrs. McA1est ~r, Okia. I was born in Indian Territory on de plantation of Isaac Love. He was old. Master, and. Henry Love was young Master. Isaac Love was a full blood. Chiekasaw Ind.ian but his wife was a white worn.. Old. Master was sure good. to his slaves. The young niggers never done no heavy work till dey was fully grown. Dey would. carry water to de men in de field and do other light jobs troun& de place. De Big House set wa~ back from d.c road. tbout a quarter of a mile. It was a two story log house, ~iid the rooms was awful big and. they was purty ftn niture in it. The furniture in de parlor was red. plush and. I loved to slip in and rub my hand. over it, it was so soft like. The house was made of square logs and. de cracks was filled out even with the edges of de logs. It was white washed and my but it was purty. They was a l ng gallery clean across de front of de house and. big posts to support de roof. Back a ways from de house was de kitchen and nearby was de smokehouse. Old. Master kept it well filled with meat, lard and. molasses aU de time. He seen to it that we always had plenty to eat. The old ~mmen done all de cookingin big iron pots that hung over the fire. De slaves was all served together. The slave quarters was about two hwid.red yards back of de Big Rouse. Our furniture was made of oak tcepting de chairs, and dey was made out of hackberry. I still have a chair dat belonged to my mammy. The boys didn1t wear no britches in de summer time. Dey just wore long shirts. De girls wore homespun dresses, either blue or gray. Old. Master never hired no overseer for his slaves, but he looked after tem bisseif. Be punished dem hisseif too. He had. to go away one

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Okl&ioma Writers Project ~2- 243 time and he hired a white man to oversee while he was gone. The only orders he left was to keep. dem busy. Granny Lucy was awful old. but he made her go to the fi eid. She couldn ~ t hold out to ~ rk so he up s and. whip s her. He beat her scandalous, He cut her back ~o bal she couldntt wear her drees. Old. Master come home and my, he was mad when he see Granny Lucy. He told de man to leave and. iffen he ever se t b o t on his ground again he ~ s ~hoo t him, sure! Old Master had a big plantation and. a himdred oi more slaves. Dey always got up at daylight and de men w~nt out and fed de horses. When de bell rang dey was ready to eat. After breakfast dey took de teams and went out to plow. Dey come in about half past tleven and at twelve de bell rung agin. Dey eat their dinner and. back to plowing dey went. 1Bout five o1clock dey ~come in again, and. den theytd talk, sing and. jig dance till bedtime. Old. Master never punIshed his niggers tcep~ing dey was sassy or lazy. He never sold his slaves neither. A owner once sold several babies to traders. Dey stopped at our plantation to stay awhile. My manimy and de other women had to take care of dem babies for two days, and. teach dem to fluss a bottle or drink from a glass. Dat was awful, dem little children crying for they motherB. Sometimes dey sold. de niothers away from they husbands and children. Master wasnt t a bel lever in church but he let us have church. My wetd have happy times singing an shouting. They d bave church when dey had a preacher and prayer meeting when dey didfltt. Slaves didntt leave de plantation much on 1count of de Patrollera. De patroller was low white trash what jest wanted a excuse to shoot niggers. I dont thinJ~: I ever saw one but I heard lots of 1em.

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Oklahoma WrtterB1 Project ..3~, 244 I don1t believe in luck charms and. things of the such, Iffen you j s in trouble there aim1 t no thing gonna save you but de Good. Lawd. I heard of folkB keeping all kind. of things for good. luck charms. ilien I W&B a child different people gave me buttons to string and. we called. t:rIem our charr~i string and. wore ~em round. our necks. If we was mean d.ey would. tell us Old. Raw Head. and. Bloody Bones would gi t us . Grand mammy told. us ghost stories after supper, but I don1t remember any of dem. I never did know I was a slave, t3~use I could.n~~ tell I wasntt free. I always had a good tinie, d.id.ntt have to work much, and. allus had something to eat and wear and. that was better than it is with me now. When de War was over old Master told. us we was free. Mammy she say, 1Well, Itm heading for Texas. I went out and old. Master ask me to bring him a coal of fire to ight his pipe. I went after it and mammy left pretty soon. My pappy wo131dnt~t leave old Master right then but old. Master told. us we was free to go where we pleased, so me an~ pappy left and. went to Texas where my mammy was. We hever saw old. Mas ter any more. We stayed. a whi 1 e in Texas and. the come back to e Indian Territory. Abe Lincoln was a good man, everybod.y liked him. See I ye got his picture. Jeff Davis was a good. man too, he just made a mistake. I like Mr. Roosevelt, too.

Henry F. Pyles. Age 81 yrs. Tulsa, Okla. 251 245

~35OO7O . . ~ ~ Oklahoma Writers Project Ex-Slaves . 245 HENRY P, PYL~S Age 8 . yrs. Tulsa, Okia. Little pinch o~ pepper Little b~uneh o ~ ~ Two three Bammy Chri sty beans-j Little piece o rusty iron-~- ~ Wrop itin a rag and. tie lt wid. hair, . Two fiuii a hos s an one f um a mare~-~ ~inb1edy, Mtimbledy, M~mb1edy - ~ . Wet it in whiskey Boughten wid. silver; Dat make you wash so hard. your . sweat pop out, And. he come to . pass, sho1 ~ That1 s how the niggers say old. Bab Russ used o make the hnodoo ~ ft hand.s0 he rnMe for the young bucks and. wenches but I ~lon1 t know, ~ cause I was too trusting to look inside &e one he make for me, and. a~qways I bee I t an~1 it no good. nohowl ~ 0)4 ~Bab Ru.ss live about two mile from me and. I went t o ~ him one night a~ midnight and~ asic him to make me &e band. I was a young strapper about sixteen years old., and. thinking about wenches pretty hard. and. wanting something to help meXout wi&the one I biked. best. . O 4 Bab ~ Th~ss charge me four bits for dat hand., and. I had. to gibe four bits more for a pint of whiskey to wet it wid~, and it wasnt.t no good. nohowl ~ 0013r8e. ~1St .W8.S ftve six years eiter da War. I wasn ~ yet quite eleven when d.e ~ar close. Most alb the. niggers was farming on d.e abares and. whole lote o~ them was still wo~ia~ for their old. Master yet. Old.

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Oklahoma Writers Project Bab come in the re from deep South Carolina two-three years b and. live all by hisseif. De gal I was worrying about had. come wid. her old pap~y ~RM mammy to Dick cotton on de place, ~nd dey was staying in one of &e cabins in the settleruent~, but dey didn t live there all de time. . I don1t know whether I believed. in conjure much or not in dem th~ys, but an~rw~.ys I tried it that once and. it stirred up sech a rumpus everybody called me ~Hartd~ after that until after I was married ~xid had a pack of children. Old Bab Th~.ss was coal black, and he could talk African or some other unknown tongae and. all the young bucks and wenches was mortal f raid. of him~ Well sir, I took dat hand he made for me and set out to try it on dat gal. She never had give me a friendly look even, and when I would speak to her polite she just hang her head. and say nothing~ We was all picking cotton, and I come along up behind her and de~ cid.ed to use my ~Hand. I had bought me a pint of whiskey to wet the hand. wici, but I was scared to take out of my pocket and let the other niggers see it, so I jest set down in de cotton row and taken a big mouthful. I figgered. to hold. it in my mouth until I catched up wid. that gal and then blow it on the hand. jest before I tech her on the arm and speak to her. Well I take me a b ig mouthful but it was so ho t and. scaldy I t jest slip right on down my throati Then I had. to take another, and when I was gitting up I kind of stumbled ~nd it slip down, toot Then I see all the others get way on ahead, and. I took another big mouthful-~ the last in the bottle -and drap the bottle under a big stalk and start picking fast and. holding the whiskey in my mouth this time. linissed. about half the cotton I guess, but at last I catch up with. de rest and. git ~2. 246

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close up behind dAt purty gal. . . Then I started to speak to her, but forgot I had. d.e whiskey in mo~ath and I lost most of it down my neck and all over nil chin, and. then I strangled a little on the rest so as when I went to squirt it on~ d~ ~ ~ hand I dJ.& t have nothing left to squirt but a little spit. s . . That make me a lit tle nervous right t~hen but anyways I st ep up behind. dat gal and. lay my hand on her arm and. speak polite and. start to say something, but I finish up what I start to say laying on my neck with my nose shoved. up tinder a cotton stalk about foi~r rows away! De way that gal lam me across the head. was a caution! We was in new groimd., and. she jest pick up a piece of old. root ami whopped. me right in de neck with it! . ~ That raise sech a laugh on me that I never say nothing to her for three $onr days, but after while I gets myself wound. up to go see her at her home, I &idU~t know how she going to act, but I jest took my foot in my hand and went on over. Her old. pappy and. manimy was asleep iii the back of the room on a pallet, and. we set in front of the fireplace on our hunches and. jest looked. at the fire and. pimched. it up a little. It wasntt cold., but de malary fog vas thick all through de bottoms. ~ After while I could smell the whiskey soaked. up in dat hand. I had. in my pocket, and. I was soared. she could smell it too. So I jest reached. in my pocket and teched. it for luck, then I r aohe& over and. teohed. her arm. She jerkedit back so ~iick she knocked. over the churn and. spilled. butter-i milk all over de floor! Dat make de old. fOlks mad., and. d.ey grumble and. holler and. told. &e gal Send. dat black rapscallion on out of here! But I d.idn1 t go. . I kept on moving over closer and. she kept on backing away, but after -3- 247 Oklahoma Writers Project

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Oklahoma Writers Project while I . reach over and. put my hand. on her kn. All I was going to d.o was say Bomething but I shore forgot what it was the next minnit, tcause she jest whinnied. lak a scared hoss and. give me a big push. I was settin strad. dledy- .egged. on the floor, and. that push sent me on my head. in the hot ashes in the fur corner of the . chimneyL Then the old man jl2mp up and. make for me and. I make fOr the d.oorL It was dark, all ~ cepting the light from the chimney, and. I fumble all up and. d.own the door jamb before I find. de latch pin. The old man shorely git me if he badn t st~umble over the eat Ing table and who~ hi s hand. ~Ight down in de dish of fresh made butter. That make him so mad. he jest stand. aM holler and. cuss. ~ I git de pin loose and. jerk de door open so quick and hard I knock de powder gourd down what was hanging over it ai~d my feet ~ git caiight in the string. The stopper git s knocked. out and. when I untangle it from my feet and throw it back In de house it fall in the fireplace. ~ I was rimning all de time, but I hear dat gourd go Blammity B .amIH and. then all de yelling, but I dIdn t go back to see how dey git the hot coals aU put out what was scattered. all over de cab mi I done drap dat hand5 and. I never di~ see it again. Never did. see the gal but two three times after that, and we never mention about dat night. Her old pappy was too old. to work, so I never did see him neither, but she must of told. about it because all the yo~ing bucks called. me ~BB~& after that for a long time. Old. Bab kept on trying to work his oonj~ire with the old niggers, but the young ones didn1t pay him much mind. cause they was hearing about the Gospel ~& de Lord. Jesus Ohrist.. Wewasall free then, and.we co~L& go and come without a and. they was alwa~ s some kind. of church meeting going on close eno~igh to go to. Our nigger. never di& hear about d.. Lord. Jesus until -~248

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Oklahoma I Proj ect -.5.. ~ ~ 249 after we was free, but lots of niggers on de other plantations had. masters that told. them all about him, a~id some o! dem niggers was pretty goo& at preaching. Then de good. church people In de North was sending white preachers arppngst us all the time too. Most of de yo~rng niggers was Chr1stta~s by tbat time, One day old. Bab was hoeing in a field. and. got iii. a s~mbble about something with a young gal name Polly, same name as his wife. After while he git so mad. he reach up with hi s fingers and. wet them ~ on his t ong~ie and. point straight up and say, Now you got a trick on your Derets a heavy trick on you nowl Iffen you donut change your mind. you going pass on before d.e rn~n go down! All de yo~mg niggers looked. like they want to giggle but afraid to, and. the old. ones start begging old. Bab to take . the . trick off:, ~ but that Polly git her dander up and take in i ter him with a hoe! She kn C~e4 him d.own and he j est laid. there kicking his feet~ in the air and trying ~ to keep her from hit ting him in the head.1 Well that kind. of broke op Bab s charm, so he set out to b e a preach r. The Northern whit es was paying some of the Negro oh, so he tried. to be one too. Re didn t I~ow nothing about de Bible but to shout loud., so the preacher board at Red. Mound never would giv him a paper to preach. Then he had to go back to tricking and. trancing again. One day he come in at dinner and. told. his wife to git h~m something to eat. She told. him they aiM nothi~ but some buttermilk, and. he says gibe me some of~t. . Re hollered. around. till she fix him a big ash cake and. he at e that ~ and. she mad.e him another and. he at e that . Then he d.runk the rest o~ de gallon of buttermilk and. went out and. laid. down on a tobacco scaffold. in de y~rt ~ nearly aie~.. . ~ . ~ ~

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Oklahoma Writers Project .6- 250 After while he jest stiffened out and. looked. like he was dead, and. nobody couldn t wake him up. ~Bout forty niggers gathered round and. tried but it done no good. Old. mammy Polly got scared and sent after the whit e judge old Squire Wilson, and he t ned. and then the white preacher Reverend Dennison tried and old. man Gorman tried. He was a infidel, but that didn~t do no good. By that time it was getting dark, and. every nigger in a square mile was there, looking on and acting scared. Me and my partner who was a little bit cripple but mighty smart come up to see what all the riunpus was about, and. we was jest the age to do anything. He whispered to me to let him start it off and theL me finish it while he got a head running start. I ast him what he talking about. ~ Then he fooled round the house and got a little ball of cotton and. soaked it in kerosene from a lamp. It was 4brass lamp with a hole and a stopper in the ~ side of the bowl. ~W n~er he di&u1t burn his fool head off! Then he sidle up close and stuck dat cotton ttween old Babts toes. Old Bab had. the biggest feet I ever see, too. I Bout that time I lit a corn shuck in de lamp and run out in de yard. and stuck it to de cotton and. jest kept right on runningi My partner had. a big start but I catch up wici him and. we lay down in de bresh and listened to everybody hollering and. old Bab hollering louder than anybod~ Old Bab moved away after that. All that foolishness happen after the War, but before de War while I was a little boy they wasntt much foolishness went on I warrant you. I was born on de 15th of August in 1856, and. belonged to Mister .M. dison Pyles, He lived in town, in Jackson, Tennessee, andwas a old man when de ~ broke. He had. a nephew named Irvin T. Pyles he raised from a baby, and Mister Irvin kept a store at de corner of de roads at our plantation. The

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s.?- 251 Oklahoma Writerst Project plantation covered about 300 or 400 acres I reckon, and. they had about 25 slaves counting de children. The plantation was about 9 miles north of Red Mound, close to Lexington, Tennessee, and about a mile and a half from Parkerts Crossroads ~~here they had. a big battle in de War. They wasntt no white overseer on the place, except Mister Irvin, and he stayed In de store or in town and didn t bother about the farm work. We had. a Negro overlooker who was my stepd.ad.dy. His name was Jordan, and. he run away wid de Yankees about de middle of de War and wal in a Negro Yankee regi ment. After he left we jest worked on as usual because we was afraid not to. Several of de men got away like that out he was d.c only one that got in de army. They was a big house in de middle of de place and a settlement of Negro cabins behind and. around it. We called lt de settlement, but on other plantations where white folks lived there.too they called it de quarters. We always kept this big house clean and ready, and. sometimes de white folks come out from town and stay a few days and hunt and. fish and look over de c: ~ops. We all worked at farm work. Cotton and corn and tobacco mostly. Vie all ~1aid off Sunday after noontime, but we di n~t bave no church nor preaching and we didntt hear a~iyth1ng bout Jesus much until after de emanci patton. I reckon old. Master wasn~t very religious, cause he never tell us bout the Holy Word.. He jest said to behave ourselves and tell him when we wanted to marry, and. not bave but one wife. We hM little garden patches and. cotton patches we could work on Sunday and what d.e stuff brung we could sell and. keep the money. Old. Master let us bave what we made that way on Sun&ay. We could b~uy ribbons and. band. soap and coal oil and such at d.e store. Master Irvin was always honest tbout

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Oklahoma Writeret Project ~ 2~52 -. S.. continuing & money, too. ~e &t& t bave no oard.ers and. spinners nor no weavers on d.e p)Antation, They cost too much monet to tmy just for 25 niggers, and. they cost a lot more than field niggers. So we got our clothes sent out to us from in town, and~ sometimes we was give cloth from &e store to make om clothes out of. We got d~e shorts and. secoMs from de mill when we bad. wheat grotm&, and. SO we had. good. wheat breM as we . . as corn pone, and d.e big smokehouse was on d.e place and. we Irnd. all de meat we wanted to eat. Old. Master sent out after de meat he wanted. every day or so and. we kept him in gard~en sass that way ~ too. We was right between de forks of Big Beaver and. Little Bee)~r an& we co uld. go fishing without getting far off d.e place. We couldn1t go fr away without a passe though, and~ they wasn1t nobody on the place to write us a pass, . so we oo~3~fltt go to meeting and. dances and. sech. But de niggers on de other plantations could get passes to come to our place, ana ~ ~o we bad parties sometimes there at our place. We alway e bad. them on Sun&a~iPs, 1oause in the evening we would be too tired. to workif we set lip and the other masters wouldxt t give passes to their niggers to come ~ over in de evening. We I~iac1. a white d.octor lived. at d~e next plantation, ani ol& Master ha& a contract with old. Dr. Brown to look after us. ~e bad a beaH as long as your ami. He come for all kinds of misex~ except bornings. Then we had. a mi~ wife who was a white woman lived. d~own below us They was poor people renting or living on war land. Nearly all d~e white folks in that country been there a long time a~ their 034 peopie got d.e land. from d.e government for fighting in ~ ~. the Revoluionary War. Most all was from North Caro1ina~cwaT back I thi old. Masters pappy was from dere in 4e first place. ~ ~ ~ ~: ~ . ~ .~ ~ ~ -~ ~ ~ ~ - ~

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Oklahoma Vriterst Project ~g, 253 Old. Mast ex had. two sons named. Newt on ath Willis Newt on was in - d.e War and was killed, and. Willis went to waxy later a~1 was sick a long time a~4 come home early. Old. Master was too old. to go, There was two daughters, Mary, de oldest, married a Holmes, and. Miss Laura never did marry I dontt think. My manunyts name was Jane, and. she was born on de 10th day oI May in 1836. 1 know d~e diates tcause old. Master kept his book on all his niggers de same as on his own family. ~ MaMmy was the nurse of ai . d.e children b~t I think old. Master sent her to d.e plantation about the time I was born. I dontt think I 1m1 any pappy. I think I was jest one of them things that happened. sometimes in slavery days, but I know old. Master d.ithi t have nothing to ~o with it ~Itm too black. Mammy married. a man named. Jordan when I was a little baby. le was the over .ooker and went off to de Yankees, when &~ ome for foraging thro~ugh dat country d.e first time. He served in de Negro regiment in d.e battle at Port Piller and. a lot of Se esh was kille& in dat battle, so when &e War was over and. Jordan come back home he was a changed~ nigger and. all d~e whites an~ a lot of de niggers hated. him. All ~ cepting old. Master, an . he never said. a worL out of ae way to him. Jest told. him to come on and. work on de place as long as he wanted. to. But Jord.an had. a haH time, and. he b~mg it on his self I reckon. tBout d.e first thing, he went down to Ti1d.ersville Schoolhouse, a.s bout a mile from Wildereville, to a nigger and. carpet bagger convention and. took me and. m~m~ny along.. what was d.e first picnic and. d.e first brass band. I ever see. ~De band. men was all white men and. they still had. on their blue soi&ier cl ~ s. .

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Oklahoma Writerst Project ~ ~ Lote of ie niggersthere ha4 been in d.e Union army too, and they had. on parts of their ar niy clothes. They took them out from tmd.er their coats t and. their wagon seats ail pat them on tor &e picnic. There was a saloon over in ~i1dersvi1 .e, and. a lot of then went over there but they was scared. to go in, most of them. But a colored delegate named Taylor and. my pa~y went in and. ordered a drink. The bart ender &i& t pay them no mind. Then a white man named Billy Britt walked i~ and throwed a glass of whi skey in Jordan s face and ciassed him for being in de Yankee army. Then a white man from the North named. Pearson took up the fight and. him and. Jordan jwnped. on Billy Britt, btt de crowd stopped them and told. p~appy to git on back to whar he come from. ~ . Re got elected a delegate at de convention and. went on down to ~ashville and. helped nominate Browniow for governor. Then he couIdn~ t corne back home for a while, but finally he did.. Old. Master was uneasy about de way things was going on, and he come out to de farm and stayed in de big house a while. One day in broad daylight he was on de gallery and. down de road come tbout 20 bushwhackers in Sesesh clothes on horses and rid. up to de tate. Old. Master knowed. ail of them, and. Captain Clay Taylor, who had. been de master of .. de nigger delegat e was at the head of them. ~ They bad Jordan Pyles tied. wIth a rope a~t& walked along ~i de ground betw~ixt two horses. . . . Whar you taking my nigger? Old. Mast er say. K run down off d.~ gallery and out in d.~ z~oad.. . . . ~ uH5 ~j~t~ : ~ fligger no m re u you know, that~ id Captain raylor hofl r~backo ~ ~ . . ~ flue jest as much m~ ni~ger as that fa~lor nigger was your nigger,

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Oklahoma Writers1 Project -11.. 255 battle Captain b riche you one too, anch and. you ain t laid hands on himi Now you jest have pity on my nigger~ ~Yoiir nigger Jordan been in che Yankee army, and. he was in de at Port Piller and help kill our white folks, and you know its Old Taylor say, and. argue on like that, but old Master jest take hold. his and shake his head. No Claytt he say that boy maybe d.idn1 t kill Confederates but and him both know my two boys killed plenty Yankees, and you forgot I lost of my boys in de ~Var. Aintt that enough to pay for letting my nigger alone?0 And. old Captain Taylor give the word. to turn Jordan loose, and. they rid on down de road. ha1 s one reason my stepdaddy never did. leave old Master s place, and I stayed on dere till I was grown and had children. The Yankees come through past our place three four times, and one time they b~d a big battle jest a mile and a half away at Parkerts Crossroads. I was in de field hoeing, and I remember I hadn t watered the cows we had hid way down in de woods, so I started down to water them when I first heard de shooting. Yie had de stock hid down in de woods and all de corn and stuff hid. ~use the Yankees and the Sesesh had been riding throi~gh quite a lot, either one take anything they needed iffen they found it. First I hear something way off say 3r~i mr 1mp1 Then again, and again. Then something sound like pop orn beginiiing to pop real slow. Then it git faster and I start for de settlement and de big house. All Masterts folks was staying at de big house then, and. couldn t git back to town tco~t of de soldiers, so they all put on they good clothes, with de hoop skirts and. little sunshades and the lace pantaloons and. got in the buggy to go see de battle! They rid. off and. it wasntt long till all the niggers was following

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Oklahoma Writerst Project -12- 256 behind. stopped We all got to a hill tboat a half a mile from the crossroads and. when we couldntt see nothing but thick smoke all over d.e whole place. We could. see men on horses come in anl out of de smoke, going this way and. that way, and. then some Yankees on horses broke through de woods right close to us and scattered. off clown through d.e field.. One of de white officers rid. up close and. yelled at us and. took off his bat, but I couldntt hear nothing he said. ~ Then he rid. on and. catch up with his men. They had. stopped. and. was turning off to one side. He looked. back and. waved hi~ bat again for us to git away from that and. j est then he clapped. his 1~and t o his b elly and. fell off his hose, Our white folks turned. their buggy routh and. made it for home and. no mistake! The niggers wasntt fur behind neithert They fit on ~ back toward. our plantat ion and. some of inside it at one corner. Por three four d.a~s after that they t roimd and. some of d.e graves was on o~r old. place. Long t ime afterwards people come and moved. all them yards at Shuloh and Corinth and. other places. They was about all around. there. After d.e War I married. Molly Timberlake and. we lived. on there Ui when we come to Indian Territory at Haskell. They wasnt t no Haskeli there. atd I helped. to build. da.t town, doing carpenter work and. the like. Wehad two boys, Bill and. Jim Dick, and. eight daughters, Effie, Id.a, Etta, EVa, Jessie, Tommie, Bennie and. Timmie. Her real name is Timberiake after her Th~ ~v. They all went to school and. graduated in the high schools. ~ My wife bas been dead. about ten years. the fighting was was burying soldiers to other grave a Inindred. killed 1902, then,

Chaney Richardson. Age 90 years. Fort Gibson, Okla. 263 257

#~ 350024 . ~ Olciahoina Writerst Project fr-Slaves 257 1O 13 -37 a~&~t~r ~icz~so~ Age 90 years . Fort Gibson, Ok .a. I was born in, the olc3. Caney settlement southeast of Ta~i1equah on the banks of Caney Creek. Off to the north we could. see the big old. rid~ge of Sugar 1~ountain when the sun shine on him first thing ~ in the moiiiing when we ai . getting up. I clithttt Icriow nothing else but some kind. of war until I was a grown woman, because when I first can remember my old. Master, Charley Rogers, was always on the lookout for somebody or other he was i1~ d. ~p against in the big f euci. ~ My mas t er and all the rest of the folks was Cherokees and. they~d. been killing each other off in the feud. ever since long before I was borne~1, and. jest because old. Master have a big farm and. three-four familles of Negroes them other Cherokees keep on pestering ~is stuff all the time. Us children was always afeared. to go any place ~ n some of the grown folks was along. : We d.1&t know what we was arfeared. of, but we heard the Master and. Mi stress keep talking ~ bout ano ther Party killing and. we stucic close to the place. 0)4 Mis tress ~ name was Nancy Rogers but I was a orphan after I ~we,e a big girl and. I called. her Aunt aM UMamm&t like I did. when I was little . ~ You see my own mammy was the house woman aM I was raised. in the

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Oklahoma Writers Project -2- 258 house, and I heard. the little children call old. mistress UmwrY~mafl and. so I did. too. She never did. make nie stop. My pap~ and mammy and us children 1ive~i in a oneroom log cabin close to the creek bank and. jest a little piece from old. Master s house. My pappy~ s name was Joe Tucker and. my mammy s name was Ruth Tucker. They belonged to a maxi named Tucker before I was born and. he sold. them to Master Oharley Rogers amt he just let them go on by the same name if they wanted to, because last nanie~ didn t mean nothing to a slave anyways. The folks jest called my pappy Charley Rogerst boy Joe. I already had two sisters, Mary and. Mandy, when I was born, and purty soon I had a baby brother, Louis. Mammy worked at the Big House and. took me along every day. when I was a little bigger I ~uld help hold the ~iank when she done the spinning and. old. Mistress done a lot of the waving and some knitting. She jest set by the window andknit most all of the time. ~Nhen we weave the cloth we had a big loom out on the gallery, amt Miss Nancy tell us how to do it. Manimy eat at our own cabin, and we had. lots of game meat and. fish the boys get in the Caney Creek. Mammy bring down deer meat and wild. turkey sometimes, that the Indian boys git on Sugar Mountain. when we had. corn bread, dried bean bread and green stuff out n Master s patch. Manmiy make the bean bread when we git short of corn meal and. nobody going to the mill right away. She take and. bile the beans and mash them up in some meal and. that make it go a long ways. The slaves didn t have no garden tcause they work the old Master s garden and make enough for everybody to have some anyway.

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Ok1~oma Writers1 Project 259 ~ ~ hen I was about 10 years old. that feud. got so bad the Indians way always taThing about getting their horses ~md~ cattle killed. and their slaves harmed. I was too little to know how ba~1 it was until one morning my own inan1~II~ went off somewhere clown the road to git some st x~f to dye cloth and. she d.id&t come back. Lots of the young Indian bucks on both si&es of the feud. would. ride around. the woods at night, and. old. Master got powei~ful oneasy about my mammy and. had. all the neighbors and. slaves out looking for her, but no~ body find. her. It wa~ about a week later that two Indian. men rid. i~ a~.d. ast old. master wasn ~ t his gal Th~i.th gone He says yes and. they t&~e one oI~ the slaves along with a wagon to show where they seen her. They find. he r in some bushes whe re she ~ d. been get t ing bark to set the dyes, and. she been. dead. all the time. Somebody clone hit her in the head. with a club and shot her through and through ~with ~ a bullet too. She was SO swole up they cmt t lift her up and. jes~ had. 4o rnake a---d.eep hole right along side of her and. roll her ~ it she was so bad. mortified. Old Master nearly go crazy he was so mad, and. the yowig Cherokee men ride the woods every night for about a month, but they never catch on to who done it. I think old. Master sell the children or give them out to son~ body then, because I never see zny sisters and. brother for a long time after the Civil War, and. for me, I have to go live with a new mistress that Was a Cherokee neighbor. Her name was Hannab. Boss, and she raised me until I was grown. I was her hone girl, and she and me done a lo~ of spinning and.

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Oklahoma Writers1 Project weaviz~g too. I helped. the cook and. carried water an& mi1kec1~. I carried the water in a home-~ made peg ing set on my head. Them peggings was kind. of buckets made out of s taves se t around a bottom and. dIdnt t have no handle. I Can r~niember weaving with Miss Hannah Rose She would weave a strip of white and. one of yellow and one of brown to make it pretty. She had. a reel that would pop every time it got to a half skein so she would. know to stop and. fill it up again. We used. copperas and. some kind. of bark she bought at the store to dye with. It was cotton clothes winter and. sainmer for the slaves, too, 1111 tell you. When the Civil War come ~ l6ng we seen lots of white soldiers in them brown butternut suits all over the place, and about all the Indian men was in it too. Old. master Obarley Rogers1 boy O1i~.rley went along too. Then pretty soon ~ it seem like about a year ~ a lot of the Cherokee men come back honte and say they not goIng back to the War with that General Cooper and some of them go off the~ederal sUe because the captain.go to the Federal side too. Somebody come along and. tell me my own pappy have to go in the war and. I think they say he on the Copper side, and then after while Miss Hanz:kah tell me he git kilt over in Arkansas. I was so grieved. all the time I dontt remember immh what went on, but I know pretty soon my cherokee folks had. all the stuff they had. et up by the soldiers and. they was jest a few wagons and mules left. ~ All the slaves Was piled. in together and. some of the grown ones walking, and. they took us way down across the big river and kept us in thebottoins a loris time ~until the ~ar was over. f 260

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Oklahoma Writerst Project We lived. in a kind of a camp, but t was too little to know where they got the gru~b to feed. us wi th. Moe t all the Negro men was off soxnewhe re In the War. Then one clay they had. to lmst up the cau~ and. some Federal soldiers go with us an~1 we ai . start back home. We git to a place where all the houses is burned. down w~d. I asic what is that place. Miss Hannah say: tISlcullyville, child.. Thatts where they had part of the War.~ All the slaves was set out when we git to Part Gibson, and the soldiers S9~ we all free now. They give us grab and. clothes to the ~egroea at that place. It wasntt no town but a fort place and. a patch of big trees. Miss Ear~~nah take me to her place and. I work there until I was crown. I &idn~t git any money that I seen, but I got~ a good. place to stay. Pretty soon I married. Ban Lovely and. we lived in a double lo~ house here at ~o rt Gibson. The~ n~r second husbaM was Henry Ri chard.son, but he ~ s been dead. for years . We had s ix children but they all dead. but one. I didntt want slavery to be over with, mostly because we had. the War I reckon. All that trouble made ~e the loss of my mammy and. pappy, and. I was always treated good. when I was a slave When it was over I had. rather be at home like I . None of the Cherokee s ever whipped u.s and. my mis tress give me some mighty fine raies to live by to gi t along in this world, too. The Ohe rokee did.nt t have no jail for Negroes and. no jail for themselves either. If a man done a crime he come back to take his punie~ . ment without beine locked. up. 261

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Okl8lloma Wr1ters~ Project 262 Noue of the ~Tegroes ran away when I was a child. that I know o ~. We all had. plenty to eat. The Negro s dldntt have no school anI so I cant t read. and write, but they cUd. have a school after the War, I hear. But we had. a church made out of a brush arbor an we would. sing good. songs in Cherokee son~times. I always got Sunda~r off to play, and. at night I coula go git a piece of sugar or something to ea~ before I went to bed and Mistress &Id.ntt care. We played. brea&-axid- butter and the boys played. hide the switch. The one found. the switch got to whip the one he wanted. to. When I got sick they give me some kind of tea from weeds, and. if I et too many roasting ears and. swole ~xp they biled. gourds and. give me the liquor offtn them to make me throw up. Itve been a good ehurch~goer all my life until I git too feeble, and. I still imdez~ and. talk Cherokee langu~age and. love to hear songs and parts of the Bible in it because it r~i&~e me think about the time I was a little girl before my ~am~r and. p~py leave me.

Betty Robertson. Age 93 yrs. Fort Gibson, Oklahoma. 272 266

___- ~35OO11 Oklahoma Writers1 Project BETTY ~RO~RTSON ~ Age 93 yrs. Fort Gibson, Okiahonia I was born close to Webbers Falls, in the Canadian District of the Cherokee Nation, in the saine year that my pappy was blowed. up aM killed iii the big boat accident that killed my old. Master. I never d.H see my &aMy excepting when I was a baby and. I only kr~ow what my mammy told. me about him. He come from across the water when be was a little boy, aid was grown when old. Master Joseph Vann bought him, so he never did. learn to talk much Cherokee. My mammy was a Cherokee slave, and. talked it good.. My hu8bath was a Cherokee born negro, too., aM ~ien he go t mad. he fo rgi t all the EDg1i sh he 1~owed. Old. Master Joe had. a mighty big farm and. several f~nilies of negroes, and. he was a powerfti . rich man. Pappy ~ s naine was Kai et Tann anl mammys s name was Sally. My bro thers was name Soue and. Frank. I had. one brother and one sister sold. when I was little and I don1t remember the names. My other sisters was Polly, Ruth and. LiddUe. I had. to work in the kitchen when I was a gal and they was ten or twelve children smaller than me for me to look after, too. Sometime Young Master Joe and the other boys give me a piece of money and say I worked for it, aM 1 reckon I did. for X have to cook five or six times a day. Some of the Master s family was always going d wn to the river aM back, and. every time they come in I have to fix something to eat. Old Mistress had a good. cookint stove, but most Cherokees had only a big fireplace and pot hooks. We had meat, bread, rice, potatoes and plenty of fish and chicken. The spring time give us plenty of green corn and. beans too I couldn ~ t buy anything in slavery time, so I jest give the piece of money to the Vann children. I got all the clothes I need from old Mistress, and. in winter I had high top shoes with

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Oklahoma Writerst Project -P2- 267 brass C8~B on the toe, In the summer I wear them on Sunday, too. I wore loom cloth clothes, dyed. in copperas what the old. negro women and. the old. Cherokee women made. The slaves had a pretty easy time I think. To ung Master Vann never very hard on us arid he nev~er whupped. us and old. Mi stress was a widow woman and. a good. ChriBtian and. always kind. I sure did. love her. Maybe old. 1~aster Joe Va~in was harder, I don1 t know, but that was before my time. Yoimg Master never whip his slaves, but 1f they don t min~l~good. he sell them off sometimes. ~e sold one of my brothers and one sister because they kept running off. They wasn~t very big either, but one day two Cherokees rode up and talked a long time then yotmg, Mas ter came to the cabin and. said. they were sold because mammy oouldn ~ t make them mind. him. They go t on the horses behind the men arid went off. Old Master Joe had a big steam boat he called the Lucy Walker, and. he run lt up and down the Arkansas and. the Mississippi and. the Ohio river, old. Mistress say. Ee went clean to Louisville, Kentucky, and. back. My pappy was a kind. of a boss of the negroes that run the boat, and. they all belong to old Master Joe. Some had been in a big run..away aM had. been brung back, and. wasntt so good, so he keep them on the boat all the time mostly. Mistress say old Master and. my pappy on the boat somewhere close to Louisville and the boiler bust and. tear the boat up. Some niggers say my pappy kept hollering, ~.m it to the bank! Ru~n it to the bank! but it sunk and. him and. old. Master died.. Old. Master Joe was a big man in the Cherokees, ~ hear, and. was good. to hi s negroes befo re I was born. My pappy run away one ti. me four or five years before I was born. mwnmy tell me, and. at that time a whole lot of Cherokee slaves run off at Once. They got over in the Creek country

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Oklahoma Writer81 Project 268 and stood off the Cherokee officers that went to git them, but pretty soon they give i~p and. come home. Mammy say they was lots of excitement on old. Master s place and. all the negroes mighty scared, but he d~i&t sell my pappy off. He jest kept him and. he was a gool negro after that. He had to work on the boat, though, ath never got to come home but once In a long while. Young Master Joe let us have singing and. be baptized If we want to, but I wasnt t bap ti zed. till after the War. Bat we couldii~ t learn to read. or have a book, aM the Cherokee folks was afraid to tel . us about the letters and, figgers because they hav~e a law you go to jail and. a big fine if you show a slave about the letters. When the War come they have a big battle away west of us, but I never see any battles. Lots of soldiers around all the time though. One day young Master come to the cabine and. say we all free and. cantt stay there less1~i we want to go on ~orking for him just like wetd. been, for our feed. and. clothes. Mammy got a wagon and. we traveled around a few days and. go to i ort Gibson, When we git to Fort Gibson they was a lot of negroes there, and. they had. a camp meeting and. I was baptized. It was in the Grand River close to the ford, and. winter time. Snow on the ground and the water was muddy and. all full of pieces of Ice. The place was all woods, and. the Cherokees and the soldiers all come down to see the baptizing. We settled. down a little ways above Fort Gibson. Mammy had. the wagon and two oxen, and. we worked. a good. size patch there until she died, and. then I git married to Cal Robertson to have somebody to take care of me. Ca . Robertson was ei ghty..nine years old. when I married him forty years ago right on thie porch. I had on my old. clothes for the wedding, and. I amt had. any

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. 4-, 269 Oklahoma Writerst Project good. clothes since I was a little slave girl. Then I h~. clean warm clothes and. I h~ tokeep them elean too! I got my allotment as a Oherokee Pree&m n, and. so did. Cal ~ but we live& here at this place because we was too old. to work the land. our-. selves. In slavery time the Cherokee negroe s d.o like anybody el se when they is a death ~ jest listen to a cha~pter in the Bible ath all cry. ~e had. a good. song I remember. I t was ~n1 t Call the Jesus, Because I tm Coming Hs~e. The . only song I remember from the ~sold.iers was: Hang Jeff Davis to a Sour Apple Tree and. I remember that because they said. he used~ to be at Port Gibson one time. I d.on1 t ~ow ~at he done after that. I dnn1 t know about Robert Lee, but I Ia~ow about Lee1 s Creek. I been a gDod christian ever since I was baptizet, but I keep a little charm here on my neck an~rwa~s, to keep me from having the no se bleed.. Its got a buckeye anta lead. bullet in it. I ha& a silver dime on it., too, for a long time bat I took it off and go t me a box of smtff. I ~ n glad. the Wart s over sud. I am free to meet God like anybody e . se and~ my grandchild.ren can learn to read an& write.

Harriet Robinson. Age 95 yrs. 276 270

350100 Oklahoma Vin t erst Proj ect Ex slaves 270 ~t ~ V ~ ~ HARRIETT ROBINSON ~ Age 95 yrs. 500 Block N. Ponshill Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. I was born September 1, 1842, in Sastrop, Te~zas, on Colorado River. L~y ~appy was named Harvey ~7hee1er and. my mammy was iiaraecl Carolina Sims. My brothers and sisters was named Alex, Taylor, Mary, Cicero, Tennessee, Sarah, Jeff, Ella and. Nora. We lived in cedar log houses vrith~ dirt floors and. double chimneys, and. doors hune on wooden hinges. One side of our beds was bored in the ~r~lls and. b2~d one leg on the other. Them white folks give each nig~r f8~ily a blanket in winter. I nussed 3 white chillun, Lulu, Helen Augusta, and Lola Sims. I done this before t1ia~ ~Var that set;us free. We kids use to make extramoney by toting gravel in our aprons. They d give us dimes ~id silver nickles. Our clothes was wool and cotton mixed. We had red rustic shoes, soles one half inch thick. They d go a whick a~whack. The mens had pants wid. one seam and. a right hand pocket . Boys wore shirts. We ate hominy, mush, grits and. pone bread for the most part. Many of them ate out of one tray with wooden spoons. All vittles for field. hands was fixed together. ~omen broke in mules throwed. 1em down c~id. roped. em. They d do it better n men. While maznniy made some hominy one day both my foots vrac scalded and. when they clipped them blisters, they jest put some cotton round them and catched.. all dat yellow ~ater and made me a yellow dress out of it. This was way backyonder in slavery, before the War. ~ Whenever white folks had a baby corn den all de old niggers had to come thoo the room and the master would be over ~ hind the bed. end t d say,

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Oklahoma ~ritersT Project Here s a new little mistress or master you got to work for. You had to say, Yessuh Master and. bow real low or the overseer would. crack yot. Them was s lavery do~ days . I remember in slavery time we had stages. Them devilish things bad jest as many wrecks as cars do today. Only thing, we gest aIa~ t have as m~iy. My mammy belonged. to Master Colonel S~n Sims ana his old mean wife Julia. ~T Dappy belonged to Master Meke Smith and his good wife Harriett. She v~as sho a ~ood v;~ouan. I was named after her. I~~aster S~ and. ~aster Meke was partners. Ever year them rich men would send so many wagons to New Mexico for dllfferent things. It took 6 months to go and. come. Slaves was :oimi~hed by whip and starving. Decker was sho a mean slave~- holder. He lived. close to us. Master S~ di ntt never whi1~ me, but Miss Julia whipped me every day in the mawning. Daring the war she beat us so ter ~ rible. She say, Your mastert s out Lighting and. losing blood trying to save you from them Yankees, so you kin git your n here. Miss Julia would take me by my ears an~ butt my head against the we,1l. She wanted. to whip my mother, but old Master told. her, naw sir. When his father done cive my mammy to Master Sam, he told hirn not to beat her, and. iffen he got to whar he ~est had. to, jest bring her back and. place her in his yaH from whar he got her. White folks did.n t t low you to read. or i Them what d.H know come from Virginny. Mistress Julia used. to drill her chillun in spelling any words. At every word therri chillim rnissea, she givet3. me a lick tcross the head. for it, Meanest woman I ever seen in my whole life. This skin I got now, it aintt my first skin. That was burnt off when I was a little child, Mistress used. to have a fire made on the fireplace ~2.. ~ 271

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. Oklahoma ~Vritemt Project 272 ~nd she inaae me scoin the brass roima it and. m~r skin jest blistered. I jest had to keep ~u11ing it off n rae. ~Ve di.cln t had. no church, though my pappy was a Dreacher. He preached. in the cruarters. Our ba~tizing song was On Jord.an s Stormy Bank I stand. and. 11Har1~ Prom The Tomb. Now all d.at was before the Viar. We had. all our funerals at the graveyard.. Everybody, chillun and all picked up a clod. of dirt and. thro~red in on toD the coffin to help fill up the grave. . -~.. Taling ~ b out niggers running away d.idn t my ~t ep pappy run away? Didn t my uncle Gabe run away? The frost would jest bite they toes most nigh off too, whiles they was gone. They put Uncle Isom (my step~pappy) in jail and whilets he was in there he killed a white gu.arthnan. Then they Dut in the paper, A nigger to kill , ~ ~ Master seen it and. bought hirn. He was a doifole- ~trengthed. man, he was so strong. He d run off so help you God. They had the blood hounds after him once and. he caught the hound what was leading and beat the rest of the dogs. The white folks run up on him before he 1~iowed. it and made them dogs eat hi s ear ~1umb o t But ~ t you ~iow he got away anyhow. One morning I was sweeping out the hail in the big house and. somebody come a~ Irnocking on the front door and I goes to the door. There was Uncle Isom wid rags all on his head. He said, Tell oie master heah I am~ ~ I goes to Masterts door and says, Master Colonel Sam, Uncle Isom said. heah he am.~ He say, ~Go t round o the ki t ehen and tell black mammy o give you breakfast When he was thoot eating they give him 300 lashes and, bless my soul, he run off again. When we went to a partythe nigger fiddlers would. play a chune dat went lak this: I fooled 01e .Mastah 7 years Fooled the overseer three; Hand. me down my banjo ~ And I Il ti kie your beL4ee.

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-.4~.. 273 Ok1aho~na Vtriters Project Vie haft the same doctors the white folks ha . an6 we wore asafetida and garlic ana. onions to keep fron taking all them ailments. I tmember the battle bthing fit. The white folks buried all the jewelry and. silver and all the gold. in the Blue Ridge Moimtains, in Orange, Te::as. Master made all us niggers come together and. git ready to leave tcause the Yankees v,as coming. Vie took a steamer. Now this was ~ slavery time, shot tn~fff slavery. Then we got on a ste~jnshi~p and Dulled. out to G~. veston. Then he told. the caDtain to feed we niggers. We v~as on the bay, not the ocean. Vie left ~alveston and. went on trains for Houston. One, my sister Liza, was mulatto and. Master Colonel Sims son had 3 chillun by her. We never seen her no more after her last child was born. I found. out though that she was in Canad.a. After the ~Yar, Master Colonel Sims went to git the mail and. so he call Daniel Ivory, the overseer, and. say to him, Go round to all the quarters and. tell all the niggers to come up, I got a paper to read. to tem They re free now, so you kin git you another job, tcause I aintt got no more niggers which is my ovni.~~ Niggers come up from the cabins nap~y~head.ed, jest lak they gwine to the field. Master Colonel Sims say, Caroline (that s my mammy), you is free as me. Pa said. bring you back and. Itse gv iim do jest that. So you go on and work and. Vil pay you and. your three olc1~est chillim $10.00 a month~ a head. ana $4. 00 fer Harriet ~ hat s me an~ then he turned. to the rest and. say Now all youtuns will receive $10.00 a head. till the crops is laid. by. 1 ~ you know before he got half way ~ over half them niggers was gone. Thera flu Klux Kians come and. ask for water with the false stomachs and. iiw~ke lak they was drinking three bucketsful. They done some terrible things, but God~ seen it all and. marked it 3.own. We didn t had no law, we had bureau. ~7b~ , in them days iffen some u body stole anything from you, ~ they had. to pay you and not the Law,

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.~5-. 274 Oklahoma Writers Project oldest heaven Now they done turned that round and. you don ~ t git no thing. One day whiles master was gone hunting, Mistress Julia told. her brother to give Miss Harriett (me) a free whipping. She was a nigger killer. Master Colonel Sam come home ~.nd he said, You Infernal sons o b I t ches don ~ t you biow there is 300 Yankee s camped out here and iffen they knowed youtd whipped this nigger the way you done done, they d kill all us. Iffen they find lt out, I~ll kill all you all. Old rich devils, I~m here, but they is gone. . God choosed Abraham Lincoln to free as. It took one of them to free us sois they coul&u~t say nothing. Doing one tlection they sung Clark et the watermelon . ~ . D. Gid.dings et the vinel Clark gone to Congress An J. D. Gld.dlngs left behind. They hung Jeff Davis i~ .a sour apple tree, They say he was a pre sident but he wasnt t he was a big senat or man. Booker T. Washington wa~ all right in his way, I guess, but Bruce and fred Douglass, or big mens jest sold. us back to the white folks. I married Haywood Telford and had 13 head. of chillim by him. My d.aizghter is the mammy of 14. Al . my chullun but fo~ur done gone to before me. ~ ~ - I jLned the church in Chapel Hill, Texas. I am born of the Spirit of God. shoe irnif. I played. with him seven years and. would go right on dancing at Christmas time. Now I got religion. Everybody o~hta live right, though you wont t have no friends Iffen you do. Our overseer was a poor man. He was paid to be the head. of punishment. .~ ~ old. slavery days, clogs1 days. Had. us up before day and. lak-~a..that. I j est didnt t l1~e to think of them

Katie Rowe. Age 88 yrs. Tulsa, Oklahoma. 281 275

350074 Oklahon~~ri~rit~ers Project 4, ~xSlaves 275 . L~TI~ ROWE .A~e 88 yrs. Tulsa, Oklahoma I can set on de gallery, whar de sunlight shine bright, arid. sew a pm7erfuJ. fine seam when my grancichillun wants a special purty dress for de school doings, but I aintt worth much for nothing else I reckon. These same old eyes se en powerful lot of tribulations in n~y time, and. when I shets ~em now I can see lots of ltil chillun jest lak my grand chillu.n, toting hoes bigger dan dey is, and dey pore little black hands and. legs bleeding whar dey scratched by de brambledy weeds, and. whar dey got ~vhuppings tcause dey didn~t git out all de work de overseer set out for 1em. I was one of dem little slave gals my own self, and. I never seen nothing but work and. tribulations till I was a grown up woman, jest about. De niggers had. hard. traveling on ide plantation whar I was born and. raised, tcause old. Master live in town and jest had de overseer on de place, but iffen he bad lived. out dar hisseif I speck it been as bad, tcause he was a hard. driver his own self. ~ He git bi1iD~ mad when de Yankees have dat big battle at Pea Ridge and. scatterde tPederates all down throi~gh our country all bleeding and. tied. UI) and hungry, andhe jest mount on his hoes and. ride out to de plantation whar we ai . hoei~ corn. ~ He ride up and. tell old. man Saunders dat de overseer to bunch us all. up round de lead. row man dat my own uncle Sandy and. den he tell us de law! . rou niggers been seeing d.e 1Federate soldiers coming by here lookirg purty raggedy and hurt and wore out ~ he say, but dat no sign dey licked.!

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Oklahor~a Writers Project Dem Yankees aim1 t gwine gi t di s fur but iffen de~ do you all ahi ~ t gwine git free by ~ em ~ cause I g~c zine free you ~ dat. Then dey ~it here dey goingfind you already free, tcause I ~wine line you up on de ban: of Bois d Arc Creel: and free you wid my shotgun! ~ybody miss jest one lick vTid~ de hoe, or one step in de line, or one clap of dat bell, or one toot of de horn, and he gvrine be free and. talking to de debil long befo he ever see a pair of blue britches! Dat de way he talk to us, and dat de way he a~t wid us all de time. We live in de log quarters on de tlantation~ not far from ~ ashington, A1 ~ flS~S, close to Bois d Arc Creek, in de edge of de Little River bottom. Old Master s name-was Dr. Isaac Jones, an~ he live in d.c to~vrn, whar ~ kee:o four, fivehouse niggers, but he have about 200 on de plantati n, big a~d little, and. old ~an Saunders oversee 1em at de time of de War. Old Mistress name was Bebty, arid ~he had a daughter name 3ebty about grown~ and then they was three ~ boys, Tom, Bryan, and Bob, but the was too young to go to de War. I never did. see em but once or twice ttil after de ~Tar. Old Master didntt ~o to de War, tc use he was a doctor and de onliest . ~ ~ one left . in Washi~n~ton and. purty so on he was dead anyhow. Next fall after he ride out and tell us. dat he gw ne shoot us befo he let us free he come out to see hOw his steam gin doing. De ~in box was a ~ little old thing tbout as big as a bedstead, wid. a lone belt running throu~i de side of de gin house out to de engine and boiler in d.c yard. De boiler burn cord. wood, and it have a little crack in it whar de nigger gimier:~een trying, to fix it . ~ Old. Master. oorne:out, hopping mad. tcause d~e gin s~iet down, and. .; . ast ~de g~xmer~, ~. :O & ~ wu, what de mat ter.. Old ~Brov~n ~ s~y~ de boiler !e&~ and _i~ ~

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-.3d~ 277 Okl&horna SYrlterst Project it 1~ab1e to bust but old. Master jump do~rn offtn his hoss and go ~ round to . de boiler and say, ttCuss fire to your black hearti Dat boiler all right! Throw on sorte cordvroocl, cuss fire to your heart! ~ Old Brown start to d~ wood ~ile grii~b1ing to hisseif and old Master stoo;; down to look at de boiler again, and it blow right up and him standing right dar! Old Master was blowed all to pieces, and dey jest find. little bitsy chunks of his clothes and parts of him to bury. De wood pile blow down, and old. Brown land way off in de woods, but he wasn t killed. Two wagons of cotton blowed over, and de mules run away, and all de nig~ers was scared nearly to death tcause we knowed de overseer gwine be a lot worse, now dat old Master go e. Before de ~ar when Master was a young man de slaves didn t have it so hard, my mammy tell me. He~name was Fanny and her old mammy name was Nanny. I G~ranciina Nann~ was alive during de War yet. ~ How she come in de Jones family was dis way: old Mistress was test a little girl, and. her older brother b ught Nanny and give her to her. I think his name was Little John, anyw ys we called him Master Little John. He drawed. up a paper what say dat Nanny allus belong to Miss Betty and. all de chillun Nanny ever have belong to her, too, and nobody can t tske Tem for a debt and. things like dat When Miss Betty marry, old Master he cane t sell Nanny or any of her chillim neither. Dat paper hold good. too, and grandmammy tell me about one time it hold good and. keep my own mainilly on de place. G~randmaxnmy say mammy was jest a little gal and was playing out in de road. wid three, four other little chillun when a white man and. old. Master rid. up. The white man had a paper about corne kind of a debt, and. old Master say

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Oklahoma Writers~~ Project take his pick of de nigger chillun and give him back d~e paper. Jest as G rartd.rnammy go to cle cabin door ~id hear hirn soy dat de man ~it off his hoss and. pick u:p m~r mammy ana put her up in front of him and. start to ride off clown de road. . Pretty soon Mr. Little john coi~e ridin~ u~ and say sornething to o1d~ ana see grandme~arny standing in de yard. screaming and~ crying. He jest spur in hi~ lioss and co kiting of~ .owii de road after dat white man. I~n~rny say he ketch up ~ d hir~ jest as he ~it te Bois d Arc Creek and start to wade de hoes across. Mr. Littlejohn holler to him to come back vrid. dat little nigger 1cause de DaDer dontt kiver dat chil , tcause she old. Mist~esst o~7n child, and. when de man jest ride on, hr. Litt1ejo~in throw his bi~ old lone hoss pistol clown on him an i make him come back. De man hopping L~d, but he have to give over my mammy and. take one de other chillun on de ~ebt paper. Old Master allus kind. of techy bout old. Mistress having ni~ers he can t trade or sell, and one day he have his whol ft~ ily and~ some more v:hite folks out at de plantation. He showing teu all de quarters when we all come in from de field. in de evening,.and. he call all de niggers up to let de folks see tefli. . . He make grand.mamxny and manmiy and me stand. to one side and~ den he say to the other niggers, ~ ni~ers belong to my wife but you belong to me, and~ I m de only one you is to call Master, Dis is Torn, and. Bryan, and. Bob,and Miss ~etty, and. you is to call t em dat and. dont t you ever cal 1 one of ~ ein . Young Mas ter o r Young is tres s Cu~~ fireto your black hearts~ All ae other white folks look kind of funny, and o d~ Mist.ress~l.ook shauxedof.o)4 Ma~t er. ~ . ~ own was ~.n dat bunch,too. E~.s nanae was ~r~rik, ax4 after de ) he wa~ bc~rn utider dat name but

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~v~r- ~ Oklahoma Pro ~j e et ~ I allus went by Jones, de naine I. was born under. Long about de micidile of de ~Var, after old Master was killed, de soldiers begin coming ~ round de ~1ace and c~mDirig . Dey was Southern soldiers and d.ey say dey have to tal:e de mules and. most de corn to git along on. Jest ~o in de barns and cribs ~nd take anything dey rant, and. us niggers didn t have no sweet ~ nor Irish ttaters to eat on when dey cone neither. One bunch co~~e and otay in de vzoods across de road froL~ de overseer s ::~~ouse~ and dey vras all on hosses. Dey lead de hosses down to Bois d ~c~areek every mornin~. at day1i~ht and late every evening to git v~ater. When we going to c1~c field and when we coming in we allu~ see de:~ leading big bunches of hosses. Dey bugle go jest tbout de tirre our old horn b1ov~ in de morning and. rhen v~ e corte in de~r eating sixn~er, and. we smell it and. sho git hungry! Before old ~ .~ster died. he sold. off a thole lot of hasses and cattle, and~ sonie niggers too. He had. de sales on de Diantation, and white ~en from around dar co:ie to bid., and some traders corne. He had a big stump vrhar he ir~de de ni~gers stand. while dey was beine sold, and de Lien and. boys had. to strip off to de waist to show dey muscle and iffen dey had. city scars or hurt places, but d.e women and. gals d.id.ntt have to strip to de waist. De white men carne up and. look in d.e ~1ave s mouth jest lak he was a Lral or a hose. . After old Master ~o, de overseer hold one sale, but mostly he jest trade v id de traders vihat come by. He make dc ni~gers git on de stunip, through. De traders all had bi g bunche s of slave s ~ and. dey have ein all s trang out in a line going down de road.. Some had. wagor~ and de chullim could. rider but not many. Dey didntt cha~.n or tie sera ~ dey didn~t have no place dey could. rim to~~ aii~ay.~ ~ ~ ; ~ . ~ ~ . . I seen ch1lli~ui sold o1~f and de rnarmn~r not sold, and. sonietimes de mammy so?4 ai~ a~ little b&by 1 ~ on de~pla e and gnre to another ~o~na~i to raise ein ~ r j ~ s~ ~ ~ ~ 1 ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~. ~ 4~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

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Oklahoma ~riters1 Project white folks didn~t care nothing liout how de slaves grieved. when dey tore up a family. old. man Saunders was de harc9est overseer of anybody. He would git ~ ac1 ana. rrive a whipping some time and. de slave rouldn t even know what it was about. ~T uncle Sandy was de lead~ row nigger, and he was a good nigger and. never would. tech a drap of likker. One night some de niggers ~crit hold. of soLle likker somehow, and dey leave d.e jug half full on de step of Sandy s cabin. Next morning old. man Saunders come out in de field so rn~.d he vias pale. He jest go to de lead. row and.tell Sandy to go vrid. him, and. start tov~ard. de woods along Bois d Arc Creek wid. Sand.y follering behind.. De overseer alv:ays carry a big heavy stick, but we did.n t imow he was so mad., and d.ey jest went off in de woods. Purty soon we hear Sandy hollering and we know old overseer pouring in.. on, den de overseer come back by his self and. go en up to de house. Come late evening he come and. see what we done in de day s work, and. go back to de quarters wid us all. ihen he git to mammy s cabin, whar grandm~nniy live too, he say to grand.mainrny, I sent Sandy down in de woods to hunt a hoss, he gwine come in hungry purty soon. You better make him a extra hoe ceke, and he kind of laugh and. go on to his house. Jest soon as he gone we all tell grandmammy we think he got a whipping, and sho1 nuff he didn t come in. De next day some white boys find ~cle Sandy wh ~ dat overseer done killed him and. throwed him in a little pond., and dey never done nothing to old man Saunders at all! Vihen he go to whip a nigger he make him strip to de waist, and he take a cat c-~nine tails and bring de blisters, and den bust de blisters wid -6- 280

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Ok1a~horna ~Vriters Project a wide strap of leather fastened to a stick handle. I seen d~e blood running o ~it ~ n many a back all de way from de neck to de waist I Many de time a nigger ~it blistered and cut up so dat we bave to git and grease it w~d. lard and wrap ~ em up in it ~id dey have to wear a cloth wrapped around dey boc9y imder de shirt for three~- four days after a big whippings L~.ter on in de ~Var de Yankees corne in all around us and camp, and de overseer git sweet as honey in de combs Nobody git a whipping all de time de Yankees dart Dey come and took all de meat and corn and taters dey warnt too, and dey tell us, ~ dOn~t you poor darkeys take all de meat and molasses you ~72nt? You made it and ~ your t~ much as anybody s t~ But we know dey soon be gone, and. den we git a whipping iffen we do. Some niggers run off and went wid de Yankees, but dey had to work jest as hard for dem, and dey didn t eat so E~ood ~M often wici de soldiers. ~ I never forget de day we was set free I ~ ~ Dat morning we all go to de cotton field early, and den a house nigger come out from old Mistress on a hoss and say she want de overseer to come into town, and he leave and go in. After while de old horn blow up at de overseert s house, and we all stop and listen, tcause it de wrong time of day for de horn. We start chopping again, and dar go de horn again. De lead row nigger holler Hold up! And we all stop again. \~e better go on i~ Dat our horn, he holler at de head nigger, and de head nigger think so too, but he say he afraid we catch de devil from de overseer iffen we quit widout hirn dar, and de lead row man say maybe he back from town and blowing de horn his~elf, so we line up and go in. When we git to de piarters we seeall de old. ones and de chullim up in de overseerts yard, so we go on up dar. De overseer setting on de end of a sheet greasy dey git 281

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~8. 282 Oklahoma Writerst Project de gallery wic1~ a paper in his hand, and when we all cOrne up he say come and. stand close to de gallery. Den he call off everybody1s name and. see we all dar. Setting on de gallery in a hlde..bottom chair was a man we never see before. He had. on a big broad. blaok hat lak de Yankees wore but it clin t have ~o yaller string on lt lak most de Yankees had, and he was In store clothes dat wasn t homespun or jeans, and dey was black. His hair was pli.unb gray and so was his beard, and. it come way down here on his chest, but he didn t look la~ he was very old, tcau.se his face was king of fleshy and. healthy lookin~ i~ think we all been sold. off in a bunch, and I notice some kindof smiling, and. I think they shot glad of it. De man say, IIYOU darkies IQI0W what day dis is~~ ~e talk kind, and staue . ~e all don t 1Q10W of course, and we jest stand. dat and grin. Pretty soon he asic again and de. he~ man say, No, we dontt know. Well dis de fourth day of June, and dis Is 1865, and I want you all to member de date, 1cause you allus going ~ de day. ~day you is free, Jest lak I is, and. Mr. Saunders and your Mistress and all us white people man say. UI come to tell you , he say/, ~~nd I wants to be she you all under- stand, tcause you dontt have to git up and. go by de horn no more. You is your owii bosses now, and. you dOfltt have to have no passes to go and come.~~ We never did. have no passes, nohow, but we lmowed lots of other niggers on other plantations got 1em. III wants to bless you and hope you always is happy, and tell you got all de right and lief dat any white people gotU, de man say, and den he git on his hoes and ride off. We all jest watch hirn go on clown de road, and den we go up to Mr, Saunders and. ask hirn what he want us to do He j est grunt and. say do lak we

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~- ~ ~% ~ ~ p O~Iaho na thiterst Project - - 9 .. &aLl Dlease, he reckon, but git off dat place to do it, lesstn any of us wants to stay and raake de crop for half of ~rhat we make . None ol us kn~v vihar to go so ~e all stay, and. he split u~ de fields and show us which partvie got to v?o