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I. C. District No. 2 Worker Mary A. Hicks No. Words 453 |
Subject Ex-Slave Stories Person Interviewed Adora Rienshaw Editor Daisy Bailey Waitt" |
An interview with Adora Rienshaw, 92, of 431 South Bloodworth Street, Raleigh.
"I was borned at Beulah, down hyar whar Garner am now, an' my parents was Cameron an' Sally Perry. When I was a month old we moved ter Raleigh.
"We was called 'Ole Issues, case we was mixed wid de whites. My pappy was borned free, case his mammy was a white 'oman an' his pappy was a coal-black nigger man. Hit happened in Mississippi, do' I doan know her name 'cept dat she was a Perry.
"She was de wife of grandfather's marster an' dey said dat he was mean ter her. Grandfather was her coachman an' he often seed her cry, an' he'd talk ter her an' try ter comfort her in her troubles, an' dat's de way dat she come ter fall in love wid him.
"One day, he said, she axed him ter stop de carriage an' come back dar an' talk ter her. When he was back dar wid her she starts ter cry an' she puts her purtty gold haid on his shoulder, an' she tells him dat he an her only friend, an' dat her husban' won't eben let her have a chile.
"Hit goes on lak dis till her husban' fin's out dat she an gwine ter have de baby. Dey says dat he beats her awful an' when pappy was borned he jist about went crazy. Anyhow pappy was bound out till he was twenty-one an' den he was free, case no person wid ary a drap of white blood can be a slave.
"When he was free he comed ter Raleigh an' from de fust I can remember he was a olacksmith an' his shop was on Wolcot's Corner. Dar was jist three of us chilluns, Charlie, Narcissus, an' me an' dat was a onusual small family.
"Before de war Judge Bantin's wife teached us niggers on de sly, an' atter de war was over de Yankees started Hayee's school. I ain't had so much schoolin' but I teached de little ones fer seberal years.
"De southern soldiers burned de depot, which was between Cabarrus an' Davis Streets den, an' dat was ter keep de Yankees from gittin' de supplies. Wheeler's Cavalry was de meanest troops what was.
"De Yankees ain't got much in Raleigh, case de Confederates has done got it all an' gone. Why fer a long time dar de way we got our salt was by boilin' de dirt from de smoke house floor where de meat has hung an' dripped.
"I'm glad slavery is ober, eben do' I ain't neber been no slave. But I tell yo' it's bad ter be a 'Ole Issue."
