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N. C. District No. 2 Worker Mary A. Hicks No. Words 389 |
Subject TEMPE PITTS Person Interviewed Tempe Pitts Editor Daisy Bailey Waitt" |
Pitts, Tempe |
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"I was borned in Halifax County ninety-one years ago. See dis paper, hit was writ our fer me by old marster's granddaughter dis year. Hit says not only dat I is ninety-one but dat I was her mammy, an' dat I was a good an' trus'worthy servant.
"My mammy was Phillis Pitts, an' my daddy was Isaac Williams. We 'longed fust ter Mr. Mason L. Wiggins dar in Ealifax, den through de marriages we 'longed ter Captain Hardy Pitts. Both o' dem famblies was good ter me an' dey ain't neber done me dirty yit.
"De Pitts' owned ober two hundert slaves, case dey also had a plantation in Firginia. We had all we could eat an' good, do' tough clothes. Mit's de Lawd's truff dat I ain't lakin' fer nothin' den. When we was sick we had de bes' doctor an' all de medicine dat he said dat we ought ter habe; an' we ain't wuck when we was sick nother.
"I 'members jist one whuppin' dat I got, an' I needed hit too. Missus Pitts sont me out in de yard ter scrub de wilverware wid some san'. I knowed dat I wus supposed to scrub hit good an' denwash it all off, but 'stid of dat I leaves hit layin' dar in de yard wid de dirt on it. She whups me fur it, but she jist stings my laigs wid a little switch.
"I seed de oberseer whup a slave man but de best I 'members hit de nigger warn't whupped much.
"I ain't neber seed no slave sales, do' I did see a whole slew o' slaves a-marchin' ter be sold at Richmond. Dey neber was chained do', an' sometimes I 'specks dat dese niggers what claims dat dey seed sich things am a-tellin' a lie.
"De maddest dat I eber git, an' de only time dat eber I cuss bad was when de Yankees come. Dey stold de meat an' things from de smoke house, an' eber thing else dat dey can git. Dey ain't done nothin' ter me, but de way dey done my white folkses made me mad, an' I jumps straight up an' down an' I yells, 'Damn dem Yankees an' damn ole Abraham Lincoln too!'
"At de surrender did I leave? Naw sir, I stay right on dar. Missus die fust, den Marster, an' atter dat I leaves, an' I gits married.
"My mammy an' pappy, dey tells me, was married in de marster's dinin' room by jumpin' de broom. I ain't sayin' nothin' 'bout de ceremony case I ain't sayin' nothin' 'bout my white folkses, but sometimes I does wonder why I'se redheaded when my pappy an' mammy was black as tar. Maybe I is part white, but I ain't sayin' nothin' 'bout my white folkses as I done tol' yo'."
