|
|
"Fact is, I doan reely know my right age, but I was bawn en slavery times, en I was big ernuff ter wuk when freedom come. I come fum Paris, Tennessee, whar I'se bawn en lived en de home er Benjamin Brown en he's wife Grace."
"Marse Brown he owned my mother en lots of slaves, but when de war broke out, en dey all thought de ud lose all dey slaves when freedom come, why, dey done jes' pack em off down ter Mississippi en sol' em. Some o' de slaves got er way ter war fore dey cid git er chance ter sell em."
"I member my mother sayin' she ain't nebber goan see me ergin, en she diden'. Dey kep' me, en made me leave de cabin en sleep en de big house, en do de washin', ironin', cookin', fannin' flies offen de table while de white folks et en slep en er dining room."
"Eben ef I stayed en er house with em, dey diden want me ter eat what dey et. Dey mak me eat ole fat meat en cawnbread 'thout no butter ner syrup. Dey give me shoes en wool stockin's fer de winter, but soon as de weather wus hardly warm dey pul off dem shoes en made me go bar'footed."
"One day I made up my mind I was goin' ter try en git erway, ef I died en doin' it, kaze I done got ter whar I'd ruther be daid den keep on so. Do you know dat hard treatment mek you feel dat way? Well, I got jes' like dat inside, but I done act sweet en deceitful like."
"One night I seed 'twuz de bes' chanct I'd ebber git, so I les 'slipped er way. I diden' have nothon' cept de close on my back, en not many of em."
"I thought I was goin try en mek it up ter Cincinnaty. I slep' in er woods unner bresh heaps fer sev'ral days. Den a bunch of Yankee sojers come past. It was er God send, I reckon, kaze dey kep' me en camp fer a few days, en say dey know when er boat was due en Memphis, en dat dey cud git me off safe with some men dey knowed on de boat."
"I got through all right, en was up ter Cincinnaty, at er place whar dey say I'd be safe with folks dey knowed. I reckon Brown's diden' go to a lot of trouble bout me, kaze I nebber heerd no more of em."
"I wuked up en Cincinnaty at cookin' out fer folks. Dat seem ter be bout all dey was fer mos' all 'omans ter do, cept washin' en ironin' en, mebbe nursin."
"Atter de war was over, I met up with James Ammett, who'd been off ter de war, en run on er boat up ter Cincinnaty. Us got married, en had two daughters. Jim he got killed when de boat he was wukin' on got blowed up. Den I married Alexander Washington, en now him and both my girls are daid, en nobuddy lef' cept me."
"I tell you, nobuddy kin tell en mek folks b'lieve how some us cullud folks was treated by humans, en jes' see, how folks was sol' like p'taters."
"I belongs to Nawth Street Church, en I lived here en Springfield bout thirty five years, I reckon. En I seen lots o' hardships en so much sufferin' en my time."
Interviewed at her residence, 913 West State Street. Editor's note: Virginia Washington is very probably 90 years of age, and walks with a cane. Light brown in color, her face is heavily wrinkled and her hands large and hardened by manual work. Her hair is white and thin, and her eyes a faded brown.
Sallah White 19/3/270 Ex-Slave Age Unknown (Minnick District #6 Clark County Racial Group File Copied 1/15/41 B.W.)
