|
|
Bibliography : Katle Button aged ex-slave, Oak street, Evansville, Ind.
"White folks 'jes naturally different from dar kies." said Aunt Katis Sutton, ex -slave, as she tightened her bonnet strings under her wrinkled chin.
"We's different in color, in talk and in ligion and beliefs. We's different in every way and can never be spected to think de to live alike."
"When I was a little gal I lived with my mother in an old log cabin. By marry was good to me but she had to spond so much of her time at humoring the white babies and taking care of them that she hardly over got to even sing her own babies to sleep."
"Ole Missus and Young Missus told the little slave children that the stork brought the white babies to their mothers but that the slave children were all hatched out from buzzards eggs and we believed it was true."
"Yes, Maam, I believes in evil spirits and that there are many folks that can put spells on you, and if'n you dont believe it you had better be careful for there are folks right here in this town that have the power to bewitch you and
then you will never be happy again."
Aunt Katie declared that the seventh son of a seventh son, or the seventh daughter of a seventh daughter possessesthe power to heal diseases and that a child born after the death of its father possesses a strange and unknown power.While Aunt Katie was talking, a neighbor came in to borrow a shovel from her."He, no, indeed I never lends anything to nobody." she declared.After the new neighbor left, Aunt Katie said, "She jes erbout wanted dat shovel so she could 'hax'me. A woman
borrowed a poker from my marry and hexed mammy by bending the poker and mammy got all twisted up wid
rhumatis 'twill her uncle straightened de poker and den mammy got as straight as anybody.""No, Maam, nobody gwinter take anything of mine out'n this house." Aunt Katie Sutton 's voice was thin and hertune uncertain but she remembered sons of the songs she heard in slavery days. One was a lullaby sung by hermother and the song is given on separate pages of this artical.
Three years ago Aunt Katie was called away on her last journey although she had always immersed the back andfront steps of her cottage with chamber lye daily to keep away evil spirits death crept in and demanded the priceeach of us must pay and Katie answered the call.
Aunt Katie sprinkled salt in the foot prints of departing guests "Dat's so dey kain leave no ill will behind em and cannever come agin 'thout an invitation," she explained.
She said she one time planted a tree with a curse and that her worst enemy died that same year."Evil spirits creeps around all night long and evil people 's always able to hex you, So, you had best be careful howyou talks to strangers. Always spit on a coin before You gives it to a begger and dont pass too close to ahunchbacked person unless you can rub the hump or you will have bed luck as sure as anything."
Aunt Katie declared a rabbit's foot only brought good luck if the rabbit had been killed by a cross eyed negro in acountry grave yard in the dark of the moon and she said that she believed one of that description could be foundonly once in a lifetime or possibly a hundred years.
(Folklore, District # 5, Vanderburgh County, Lauana Creel., "A Slave Mammy's Allaby.")Sung by Katie Sutton, Exslave of Evensville, Indiana."A snow, white stork flow down from the sky,Rock a bye, my baby bye,To take a baby gal so fair,To young missus, waitin there;When all was quiet as a mouse,In ole massa's big fine house.Refrain: Dat little gal was borned rich an free,She's do sap from out a sugah tree;But you are jes as sweet to me,By little colored chile,Jes lay yo head upon my bres;
An res, and res, an res, an res,My little colored chile.To a cabin in a woodland drear,You 've come by a mammy's heart to choer,In this old slave's cabin,Your hands my heart strings grabbin;Jes lay your head upon my bres,and snuggle upose on res an res,My little colored chile. -- Repeat Refrain.Ye daddy ploughs ole massa's corn,Ye mammy does the cooking She'll give dinner to her hungry chile,When nobody is a lookin;Don't be ashamed, my chile, I beg,Case you was hatched from a bussard's egg ;My little colored chile.Repeat Refrain.(Dist. No. 4, Johnson Co., William R. Mays, 2 Aug. 1937, Slavery, 471 words)Sutton, Katie -- Additional InterviewNOTE: Old Aunt Katie believed in spirits, and the casting of spells or bewitching. "When I was a little gal," she
said, "My mammy had to spend so much of her time at humoring the little white chilluns that she scarcely ever had time to sing her own babies to sleep. Old Missus and Young Missus told the little slave chilluns that the stork brought the white babies, but that slave chilluns were all hatched out from buzzard's eggs, and we believed it."
She told of a woman borrowing a poker from her mammy and 'hexed' her by bending the poker. Her mammy got all twisted up wid rheumatiz till some one straightened the poker, then mammy got as straight as anybody. She scrubbed her back steps with chamber lye daily to keep away evil spirits and death, and also sprinkled salt in the foot prints of departing guests so they would "leave no ill will behind them, nor call again without an invitation." "Always spit on a coin," she said, "before you gives it to a beggar, and don't pass too close to a hunchbacked person unless you can rub the hump, or you will have bad luck as sure as anything."
Her voice was thin and wavering, but she recalled an old song she had heard in slavery days, and sang this lullabye:
A snow white stork flew down from the sky, Rock-a-bye my baby, bye: To take a baby gal so fair, To young Missus, waitin' there; When all was quiet as a mouse, In old Massa's big fine house. Dat little white gal was borned rich and free, She's de sap from out a sugah tree; But you are jes as sweet to me, My
little colored chile. Jes lay your head upon my bres' And res, and res, and res, and res, My little colored chile.
To a cabin in a woodland drear, You've come, a mammy's heart to cheer; In this ole slave's cabin, Your hands my heartstrings grabbin; Jes lay your head upon my bres, Jes snuggle close and res, and res, My little colored child.
Yo daddy ploughs old Massa's corn, You mammy does de cookin' - She'll give dinner to her hungry chile, Wyen no body is lookin, Don't be ashamed my chile I beg; 'case you was hatched from a buzzard's egg, My little colored chile.
Tate, Mary Emily Eaton Fortland County, Indiana (Martha Freeman District #2 Parker, Indiana)
