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N. C. District No. 2 Subject TINA JOHNSON Worker Mary A. Hicks Story teller Tina Johnson No. Words 346 Editor Daisy Bailey Waitt"
An interview with Tina Johnson 85, S. Bloodworth Street, Raleigh.
"I was bawned in Richmon', Georgia 'round eighty-five years ago. My mammy was named Cass an' my father, dat is my step-father was named John Curtis. I got de name of Johnson frum Gen'l Johnson, I doan know who my real daddy was.
"My mammy belonged ter a Mis' Berry who was pretty good ter her, but we ain't had nothin' but de coarsest food an' clothes. I had one brother name Dennis an' me an' him wucked wid de others in de cotton patch.
"We had done moved nigh Augusta when Sherman come, an' Sherman's sister was a-livin' in Augusta. Dat's de reason dat Sherman missed us, case he ain't wantin' ter 'sturb his sister none.
"I ain't seed nary a Yankee, but fer two days an' nights I hyard de guns roarin' an' felt de earth shakin' lak a earth quake was hittin' it. De air was dark an' de clouds hunged low, de whole earth seemed ter be full of powder an' yo' nostrils seemed lak dey would bust wid de sting of it.
"Atter de surrender we stayed on an' went through de Ku Klux scare. I know dat de Ku Kluxes went ter a nigger dance one night an' whupped all of de dancers. Ole Marster Berry was mad, case he ain't sont fer 'em at all an' he doan want dem.
"Seberal years atter de war mammy married John Curtis in de Baptist church at Augusta, an' me an' Dennis seed de ceremony. I pulled a good one on a white feller 'bout dat onct. He axed me if I knowed dat my pappy an' mammy was married 'fore I was borned. I sez ter him dat I wonder if he knows whar his mammy an' pappy was married when he was borned.
"We comed ter Raleigh 'fore things was settled atter de war, an' I watches de niggers livin' on kush, co'nbread, 'lasses an' what dey can beg an' steal frum de white folkses. Dem days shore was bad."
AC
