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Name of Interviewer Pernella Anderson Customs
Subject Customs - Slavery Days
Well honey ah can't tell jes when ah was born. De white fokes have mah age. Ah Mong tuh de Newtons. As near as
ah can get at mah age ahm bout 74 now but ah was Mg nough to member the soldiers comin aroun atter surrender.
Mah mutha had ten chillun but ah can't member but two uv mah sisters and one uv mah truthes. We staid wid de
Newtons till we was set free and I nuss fuh de Newtons aftuh we suz set free. De Newtons was awful good ter me
and dey was good tuh mah ma too. Ah slept up in de big house wid de Newtons. Ah nevah went ter school. Ah didn'
have a dance. Ah went ter church jes sometimes. We didn have churches. We jes had meetin in our house we lived
in. We cooked on fire places. We cooked our bread in what we called oven bout so high. We had chickens and eggs,
peas, tatoes, meat and bread but ah didn know there was no sich thing as cake an pie till ah got to be an oman. in
can't recollect jes how ole ah was in slave time but ah shore can recollect dem Yankees riding dem hosses and ah
ask may ma what dey was doin and she said gatherin up cotton dey made in slave time an ah kin recollect an oman a
gin. Yo know wo hed steps made of blocks sawed from trees and she was a goin ovah em steps er shoutin and
singin "Ah am free, at last, ah am free at last, ah'm frce at last, thank Gawd a Mighty ah'm free at last." She was so
glad ter be free.
My ma in had time would make cloth. She had a loom. Hit was a high thing and th thread would go ovah th top and
come down jes so in what we call shickle. She'd have a bench so high. The loom was high as dis door and my ma
would set on the bench and her foots was on somethin like a bicycle and when she put her foots on de pedal dat
shickle would come open and make a blum blum an that would make a yard of cloth. an she'd mash the pedal agin
and another yard of cloth. Jes so we'd make eight and ton yards of cloth in one day. An when hit was made we
would carry hit to de white fokes. Day would make us clo'es outn dat cloth. Ifn dey wanted colored cloth dey would
dye de thread. Dey had what we called a loom dat would make, Le' me see now, Card would card the cotton, and de
looms would make de turned and de shickle would make de cloth, is well as ah can recollect we would make little
roll uv cotton on de curds an put it on de loom and make thread. De looms was jes so long. Ever time the wheel
would say o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o we had a spool ax thread. Ah don' know whar dey got the spools, made em tho ah
guess. Ah jes caint tell you how hit was hits so much.
De Newton's nevah did whup me. She started to whup me tho one day. Ah kin recollect bout de dogs. There was
one dog whut was called Dinah. But yo know dey had ten uv em. One day ole Uncle Henry Jones done somethin
and run off and climbed a tree and de Newton's miss him so dey called de dogs and dey went on to de tree. Dat very
tree sha he was and stopped. Uncle Henry had been gone all dat mornin and dem dogs track him right dere, to de
spot and wouldn let him down till de Newtons come. An chile dem Newtons whip de skin off Uncle Herny's back.
Dem dogs would git yo.
Mrs. Newton nevah got outn de bed no time. Ah would lift her from one bed to de utha to make de beds and when
she got ready to get dressed ah would bath her and dress huh all de times.
Ah'll tell yo nother funny joke bout Henry Johnson. He had ter clean up mos uv de time. So Mrs. Newton's dress
was hangin in de room up ou de wall and when he come out he said to ole Uncle Jerry, he said: "Jerry guess what ah
done" and Jerry said: "Whut?" And Uncle Henry said: "Ah put mah han undah ole Mistess dress." Uncle Jerry said:
Whut did she say Uncle Henry say: "She didn' say nothin." So Uncle Jerry cided he'd try hit. So he went draggin on
in de house. Set down on de floor by ole mistess. Ater while he run his han' up under huh dress and old marster
jumped up and jumped on Jerry and like to beat him ter death. Jerry went out cryin and got out and called Henry, He
said: "Henry ah though yo said yo put yo hand undah ole Mistess's dress and she didn' say nothin." Uncle Henry
said: "Ah did and she didn' say nuthin." Jerry said: "Ah put mah han' undah huh dress and ole marster like tuh beat
me ter death." Uncle Henry said: "Yo crazy thing huh dress was hangin up on de wall when ah put mah han up
undah hit."
We didn' eat eggs only on Sunday mornin. Me and mah sis et together in de same plate. We didn know whut knives
and forkes was den. We et wid our fingahs.
Ah had a good ole pa too. He died a long time ago. Ah member one night he started tuh whoop mah brudder and
mah pa and mah brudder had hit. So mah brudder runned off, an de marster called ole Dinah, Dinah was a dog yo
know but Dinah was a big dog ovah we other dogs yo know and dem dogs went and got me brudder and dem
Newtons sho did beat him. But twasut long befo mah pa taken sick and died aftuh dat. An when we was goin ter
bury mah pa lemme tell yo what happened: Two turtle doves flew roun the wagon three times, den dey flew right on
top uv mah pa's coffin box an hollered three times; and yo know mah sistuh died bout three days aftuh dat. Ah didn'
bleave in signs till den. Ah know mah pa always bleaved in signs cause ah know when hit would start lightnin and
thunderin round dat place of ourn mah pa would always make us stop He say twas bad luck. An ah know when evah
a dove would holler at night he'd tell us jes tuh tie a knot in th' south cornuh uv de sheet and he would hush. An we
would do hit an he would hush. Yo kno hits bed luck fuh dem tuh holler roun yo place.
Oh we use ter have lots o sheep, at least ole mistess did. We made all of our wool clothes from dem sheeps wool
and let me tell yo somethin else, ah think ah got some sheep wool in mah trunk now ah had hit fifty years. Hits good
fer sores if yo has or cut on yo han' or feet or if blood poison set up jes take a little piece of dat wool an put a piece
of fire on hit and put some in the sore parts and chile, honey, hit will git all right now.
Chile ah had use ter ruther go ter dances than ter eat. Ah'd go ter dances an git early dare and heah dem fiddles. Uh,
my ah jus couldn make mah foots act right. We use ter dance sixteen sets. We'd be er dancing and hit would sound
so good. Someone would say swing de one yo love bes but ah wouldn swing de one ah love best cause ah didn want
anyone tah know him.
On Sunday mornin dats when we play. Ole marster would put a rope cross for us ter jump and we'd line up. The
rope was bout five feet high and chile if we didn' jump it we'd catch hit. O-o-o-o-oooo. We had ter run. He line up
two at a time an he say one fuh de money, two fuh de show, three tuh make ready and fo' tuh go. An yo talk bout
runnin. We had ter run. He would make us box and de one dat git whooped is de one dat would huft ter box till he
got whooped and we had ter whoop three times befo' stoppin. Oh chile, ah had a time when ah was a chile.
This information even by Alice Dixon
Place of Residence Rock Island Quarters
Occupation None (approx)
Interviewer Miss Irene Robertson"
