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

Slave Narratives: a Folk History of Slavery by Various 70marry. Father said he did not want any other woman. My father was good to me. He would give me anything Iasked him for. Mother would make me ask him for things for her. She said it was no harm for me to ask himfor things for her which she could not get unless I asked him for them. When the surrender came my mothertold my father she was tired of living that kind of a life, that if she could not be his legal wife she wouldn't beanything to him, so she left and went to Levenworth, Kansas. She died there in 1935. I do not know where myfather is, living or dead, or what became of him.I can read and write well. They did not teach us to read and write in slavery days. I went to a school opened bythe Yankees after the surrender.I went with my mother to Levenworth, Kansas. She sent me to school in Flat, Nebraska. I met my husbandthere. My first husband was Elisha Williams; I ran away from school in Flat, and married him. He brought meto Raleigh. He was born and raised in Wake County. We lived together about a year when he died July 1st,1872. There was one child born to us which died in infancy.I married the second time Rufus H. Daves in 1875. He was practically a white man. He wouldn't even pass fora mulatto. He used to belong to the Haywoods. He died in 1931 in Raleigh.I think Abraham Lincoln was a fine, conscientious man; my mother worshipped him, but he turned us outwithout anything to eat or live on. I don't think Mr. Roosevelt is either hot or cold--just a normal man.ACN. C. District: No. 2 [320257] Worker: Mary A. Hicks No. Words: 429 Subject: JERRY DAVIS Story Teller:Jerry Davis Editor: Daisy Bailey Waitt[TR: Date Stamp "JUN 26 1937"]JERRY DAVIS Ex-Slave Story and Folk TaleAn interview with Jerry Davis 74 of 228 E. South Street, Raleigh, North Carolina.I wus borned in Warren County ter Mataldia an' Jordan Davis. Dere wus twenty-two o' us chilluns, an'natu'ally Marster Sam Davis laked my mammy an' daddy. He owned two hundert an' sebenty slaves, an' three,four, or five scopes o' lan'.Marster wus good ter us, he gibe us plenty ter eat, an' w'ar, an' he wus good an' kind in his talkin'. I warn't big'nuff ter do much 'sides min' de chickens, an' sich lak.I doan 'member so much 'bout de Yankees comin' 'cept sein' dem, an' dat dey gibe my pappy a new blueovercoat an' dat I slep' on it onct er twict. I knows dat de Yankees wus good ter de niggers but dey warn't sogood ter de ole Issues. Dey did 'stroy most eber'thing do'.I can't 'member, but I'se hyard my mammy tell o' dances, co'n shuckin's, wrestlin' matches, candy pullin's an'sich things dat wus had by de slaves dem days.My pappy tol' me 'bout de cock fights in de big pits at Warrenton an' how dat when de roosters got killed deowner often gibe de dead bird ter him. I'se also hyard him tell 'bout de hoss races an' 'bout Marster Sam's finehosses.I knows dat de marster an' missus wus good case my mammy an' daddy 'sisted on stayin' right on atter de war,an' so dey died an' was buried dar on Marster Sam's place.