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

Slave Narratives: a Folk History of Slavery by Various 60meal (corn meal), 2 lbs oat meal, 2 lb dry skim milk, and 1 lb plate meat. Dis is what I gits fer one week'lowance. I can't work much, but de white folks gib me meals fur washin' de woodwork in dere houses, dewhite folks in Hayes's Bottom. What little I do, I does fer him. He gives me meals for workin'. De charitygives me about 80 cts worth o' rations a week.I wus seven years old when de Yankees come through. All de niggers 'cept me an' de white folks ran to dewoods. I didn't have sense enough ter run, so I stayed on de porch where dey were passin' by. One of 'empointed his gun at me. I remember it as well as it was yisterday. Yes sir, I seed de Yankees and I remember declothes dey wore. Dey were blue and dere coats had capes on' em and large brass buttons. De niggers andwhite folks were afraid of' em. De ole house where dey came by, an' me on de porch is still standin', yes sir,and dey are livin' in it now. It belongs to Ralph Crowder, and he has a fellow by de name o' Edward, a coloredman, livin' dere now. De house is de udder side o' Swift Creek, right at Rands Mill. I belonged ter ole manWilliam Crowder durin' slavery, Tom Crowder's daddy. Ralph is Tom's son. My missus wus named MissMelvina an' if I lives ter be a hundred years old I will never forget dem white folks. Yes sir, dey shore wusgood ter us. We had good food, good clothes and a good place ter sleep.My mother died before de war, but Miss Melvina wus so good ter us we didn't know so much difference.Mother wus de first person I remember seein' dead. When she died Miss Melvina, marster's wife, called uschillun in and says, 'Chillun your mother is dead, but anything in dis kitchen you wants ter eat go take it, butdon't slip nuthin'. If you slip it you will soon be stealin' things.' I had four brothers and one sister, and none ofus never got into trouble 'bout stealin'. She taught us ter let other people's things alone.My father wus named Waddy Crowder. My mother wus named Neelie Crowder. Grandpa was named JacobCrowder and grandma was named Sylvia Crowder. I know dem jist as good as if it wus yisterday.Never went ter school a day in my life. I can't read an' write. Dey would not 'low slaves ter have books, no sirreee, no, dat dey wouldn't. We went wid de white folks to church; dey were good ter us, dat's de truth. Dereaint many people dat knows 'bout dem good times. Dey had a lot o' big dinners and when de white folks gotthrough I would go up and eat all I wanted.I 'member choppin' cotton on Clabber branch when I wus a little boy before de surrender. When de surrendercome I didn't like it. Daddy an' de udders didn't like it, 'cause after de surrender dey had to pay marster fer demeat an' things. Before dat dey didn't have nuthin' to do but work. Dere were eight slaves on de place inslavery time. Clabber branch run into Swift Creek. Lord have mercy, I have caught many a fish on dat branch.I also piled brush in de winter time. Birds went in de brush ter roost. Den we went bird blindin'. We hadtorches made o' lightwood splinters, and brushes in our han's, we hit de piles o' brush after we got 'round 'em.When de birds come out we would kill 'em. Dere were lots o' birds den. We killed' em at night in the sagefields[5] where broom grass was thick. Dem were de good times. No sich times now. We killed robins, doves,patridges and other kinds o' birds. Dey aint no such gangs o' birds now. We briled 'em over coals o' fire andfried 'em in fryin' pans, and sometimes we had a bird stew, wid all de birds we wanted. De stew wus de bes' o'all. Dere aint no sich stews now. We put flour in de stew. It was made into pastry first, and we called it slick.When we cooked chicken wid it we called it chicken slick.Dere were no overseers on our plantation. Marster wouldn't let you have any money on Sunday. He would nottrade on Sunday. He would not handle money matters on Monday, but 'ceptin' dese two days if you went tohim he would keep you. He was who a good ole man. Dat's de truf.The Ku Klux would certainly work on you. If dey caught you out of your place dey would git wid you. I don'tremember anything 'bout de Freedman's Bureau but de Ku Klux Klan was something all niggers wus scaredof. Yes sir, dey would get wid you. Dats right. Ha! Ha! Dat's right.I never seen a slave whupped, no sir, I never see a slave sold. I saw de speculators do'. I saw de patterollers,