Slave Narratives: a Folk History of Slavery in the United States

Slave Narratives: a Folk History of Slavery by Various 105Conditions and rules were bad and the punishments were severe and barbarous. Some marsters acted likesavages. In some instances slaves were burned at the stake. Families were torn apart by selling. Mothers weresold from their children. Children were sold from their mothers, and the father was not considered in anywayas a family part. These conditions were here before the Civil War and the conditions in a changed sense havebeen here ever since. The whites have always held the slaves in part slavery and are still practicing the samethings on them in a different manner. Whites lynch, burn, and persecute the Negro race in America yet; andthere is little they are doing to help them in anyway.Lincoln got the praise for freeing us, but did he do it? He give us freedom without giving us any chance to liveto ourselves and we still had to depend on the southern white man for work, food and clothing, and he held usthrough our necessity and want in a state of servitude but little better than slavery. Lincoln done but little forthe Negro race and from living standpoint nothing. White folks are not going to do nothing for Negroes exceptkeep them down.Harriet Beecher Stowe, the writer of Uncle Tom's Cabin, did that for her own good. She had her own interestsat heart and I don't like her, Lincoln, or none of the crowd. The Yankees helped free us, so they say, but theylet us be put back in slavery again.When I think of slavery it makes me mad. I do not believe in giving you my story 'cause with all the promisesthat have been made the Negro is still in a bad way in the United States, no matter in what part he lives it's allthe same. Now you may be all right; there are a few white men who are but the pressure is such from yourwhite friends that you will be compelled to talk against us and give us the cold shoulder when you are aroundthem, even if your heart is right towards us.You are going around to get a story of slavery conditions and the persecusions of Negroes before the civil warand the economic conditions concerning them since that war. You should have known before this late day allabout that. Are you going to help us? No! you are only helping yourself. You say that my story may be putinto a book, that you are from the Federal Writer's Project. Well, the Negro will not get anything out of it, nomatter where you are from. Harriet Beecher Stowe wrote Uncle Tom's Cabin. I didn't like her book and I hateher. No matter where you are from I don't want you to write my story cause the white folks have been and arenow and always will be against the negro.LEN. C. District: No. 3 [320016] Worker: Travis Jordan Subject: Hecter Hamilton Ex-slave 90 Years.[TR: Date Stamp "JUN 30 1937"]HECTER HAMILTON EX-SLAVE 90 YEARSDey wuz two General Lee's, in de 'Federate War. One los' his fight, but de other won his.One of dese Generals wuz a white man dat rode a white hoss, an' de other wuz a mean fightin' gander dat Inamed General Lee, though I didn' know den dat he wuz goin' to live up to his name. But when de time comedat long neck gander out fit de whole 'Federate army.My white fo'ks lived in Virginia. Dey wuz Marse Peter an' Mis' Laura Hamilton. Dey lived on de bigHamilton plantation dat wuz so big dat wid all de niggers dey had dey couldn' 'ten' half of it. Dis lan' donebeen handed down to Marse Peter from more den six gran'pappys. Dey wuz cotton an' 'bacca fields a milewide; de wheat fields as far as yo' could see wuz like a big sheet of green water, an' it took half hour to plowone row of cawn, but dey wuz plenty of slaves to do de work. Mistah Sidney Effort, Marse Peter's overseer,rode all over de fields every day, cussin' an' crackin' his long blacksnake whip. He drove dem niggers like dey