|
|
W. 17th, Highland Addition, Pine Bluff, Arkansas
Age 85 Occupation Laundress
"Yes ma'am, I was born in slavery times. I was born on Elsa Brooks' plantation in Mississippi. I don't know what
year 'twas but I know 'twas in slavery times.
"I was a great big gal when the Yankees come through. I was Elsa Brooks' house gal.
"I remember when a man come through to 'vascinate' all the chillun that was born in slavery times. I cut up worse
than any of 'em--I bit him. I thought he was gwine cut off my arm. Old missis say our names gwine be sent to the
White House. Old missis was gwine around with him tryin' to calm 'em down.
"And the next day the Yankees come through. The Lord have marcy!
"I think I was 'bout twelve years old when freedom come. We used to ask old missis how old we was. She'd say, 'Go
on, if I tell you how old you is, your parents couldn't do nothin' with you. Jua' tell folks you was born in slavery
times!' Gramma wouldn't tell me neither. She'd say, 'You huah, you wouldn't work if you knowed how old you is.'
"I used to sit on the lever a many a day and drive the mule at the gin. You don't know anything 'bout that, do you?
"I remember one time when the Yankees was comin' through. I was up on top of a rail fence so I could see better. I
said, 'Just look a there at them bluebirds.' When the Yankees come along one of 'am said, 'You get down from there
you little son of a b__.' I didn't wait to climb down, I jus' fell down from there. Old missis come down to the
quarters in her carriage--didn't have buggies in them days, just carriages--to see who was hurt. The Yankees had
done told her that one of her gals had fell off the fence and got hurt. I said, 'I ain't hurt but I thought them Yankees
would hurt me.' She said, 'They won't hurt you, they is comin' through to tell you you is free.' She said if they had
hurt me she would jus' about done them Yankees up. She said Jeff Davis had done give up his seat and we was free.
"Our folks stayed with old missis as long as they lived. My mammy cooked and I stayed in the house with missia
and churned and cleaned up. Old master was named Tom Brooks and her name was Klsa Brooks. Sometimes I jus'
called her 'missis.'
"Old missis told the patrollers they couldn't come on her place and interfere with her hands. I don't know how many
hands they had but I know they had a heap of 'em.
"Sometimes missis would say it looked like I wanted to get away and she'd say, 'Why, Hannah, you don't suffer for
a thing. You stay right here at the house with me and you have plenty to eat.'
"I was the oldest one in my mammy's family.
"I just went to school a week and marmy said they needed me at the house.
"Then my daddy put me in the field to plow. Old missis come out one day and say, 'Bill, how come you got Hannah
plowin'? I don't like to see her in the field.' He'd say, 'Well, I want to learn her to work. I ain't gaine be here always
and I want her to know how to work.'
"They had me throwin' the ahickles (shuttles) in slavery times. I used to handle the cyards (cards) too. Then I used
to help clean up the milk dairy.
I'd be so tired I wouldn't know what to do. Old missis would say, 'Well, Hannah, that's your job.'
"We used to have plenty to eat, pies and cakes and custards. More than we got now.
"I own this place if I can keep payin' the taxes.
"Old missis used to say, 'You gwine think about what I'm tellin' you after I'm dead and gone.'
"Young folks call us old church folks 'old ism folks,' 'old fogies.' They say, 'You was born in slavery times, you
don't know nothin.' You can't tell 'em nothin'.
"I follows my mind. You ain't gwine go wrong if you does what your mind tells you."
Interviewer Miss Irene Robertson
Person interviswed Tom Yates, Marianna, Arkansas
Age 66
"I was born in 1872 in Mississippi, on Moon Lake. Mama said she was orphan. She was sold when she was a young
woman. She said she come from Richmond, Virginia to Charleston, South Carolina. Then she was brought to
Mississippi and married before freedom. She had two husbands. Her owners was Master Atwood and Master Curtis
Burk. I don't know how it come about nor which one bought her. She had four children and I'm the youngest. My
sister lives in Memphis.
"My father was sold in Raleigh, North Carolina. His master was Tom Yeates. I'm named for some of them. Papa's
name was William Yeates. He told us how he come to be sold. He said they was fixing to sell grandma. He was one
of the biggest children and he ask his mother to sell him and let grandma raise the children. She wanted to stay with
the little ones. He said he cried and cried long after they brought him away. They all cried when he was sold, he
said. I don't know who bought him. He must have left soon after he was sold, for he was a soldier. He run away and
went in the War. He was a private and mustered out at DeVells Bluff, Arkansas. That is how come my mother to
come here. He died in 1912 at Wilson, Arkansas. He got a federal pension, thirty-six dollars, every three months. He
wasn't wounded, or if he was I didn't hear him speak of it. He didn't praise war."
Interviewer Mrs. Bernice Bowden"
