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87, 1104 East Avenue, Austin.
My name is Mary Thompson, and I was bawn in Denton, Miringo County, Alabama, about eighty-seven yeahs ago.
My mothaw was Viney Askew, and she belonged to Marster Green Askew, a Georgian. My fathaw was Wesley
Jones. He took his Marster's name.
I was about fifteen yeahs old when slavery ended, and I have a wo'se time now dan I did den. Meat is so high, and
hardly fit to eat.
I always felt mysef free even befo' freedom, 'cause I didn't have to do no field work. I cleaned house, nussed de
chillun, and waited on table.
We wusn't given no money. We wus given our room, food and clothes. I lived in de "big house" wid de Marster and
mistress, and slep' on a pallet on de floah. I had to git up durin' de night and wait on de chillun, ... give 'em watah
and so on.
De chillun liked me and called me Mary, and de chillun's folks treated me all right, except once or twice. Some of
dose chillun is still livin' in Alabama, and I could have a room wid 'em to dis day.
My mothaw was a good cook, and people in sto'es in town brought rabbits, 'possums and tukkeys for her to cook.
She also made good cakes and good sponge cakes. She had a large stove and also made home-made bread ... dey
called it salt-risin' bread.
In cold weathaw, we wore gingham dresses, and good, wahm stockin's and shoes. Dey took good cah of us.
In hot weathaw, we woah ginghams and went beahfoot, but we put on shoes to go to chuch. We was allowed to go
to chuch at three on Sunday aftahnoon. De white folks always sent us a white preachah to do de preachin', 'cause de
slaves - mos' of 'em - couldn't read or write. De preachah would tell us to be good to our masters and mistresses. We
was Presbyterians. I was sca'ed to learn to read or write, 'cause a lot of slaves said dat de white folks would maybe
cut off our fingahs. No, de white folks never did hep me to read or write.
I kin remembah how we would heah somebody a-screamin' at times at a house, and my sistah and me would run
theah and see whut wus wrong. We was told dat de mistress had got a telegram and dat one of her boys had been
kilt in de wah. Dat wah lasted so long, dat it was a shame.
I remembah how de soldiahs - de Confederates - would jes' walk into de kitchen and hep themsefs. Dey would say,
"We have been to de wah, and you - all jes' been settin' down .... we are hongry"; and dey would hep themsefs.
My mistress' niece had a big plantation, and she had a place whah she had de slaves whooped. She had a reg'lah
whoopin'-post whah de slaves was whooped.
My Marster jes' had a large cowhide whoop. Yes, I got a whoopin' more'n once. Well, I was jes' a slave, and I have
never forgotten it. If dey treated me right, I tried to do right.
Several times de Marster took hold of my eahs and bumped my haid against de wall ... otherwise dey was good to
me. I'm jes' tellin' you de truf.
We wusn't allowed no whiskey, unless we was sick. De white poor folks was good to us, better'n de rich folks. De
poor folks'd give us a quartah now and then. I remembah how drunk some of de slaves got.
I kin remembah how de slaves was fattened like hogs, and den marched to town and marched aroun' and auctioned
off like cattle ... Some of de slaves had done somethin' mean, and was sold off. Some of de slaves brought more'n a
thousand dollahs down in New Awlins.
I know of one woman-slave who was workin' fo' de white folks, and she liked to run around wid de white sto'e men
at night. She was a nuss to her Marster's girl, and she would give her morphine to put her to sleep, so she could run
around and not let de Marster know it. It ended up by de slave nuss givin' de baby girl so much morphine dat her
body was full of it ... and de baby died. De baby was buried and de cullud folks got to talkin' too much, and de baby
was dug up again, and examined. De slave nuss was put in jail and kep' thah a long time. She was den sold.
Heap of de slaves would run away and go up Nawth. De Marsters would try to find 'em by sendin' "nigger houns"
aftah 'em. Once de houns caught a slave and he kep' sayin', "Oh, Laws ... oh, Lawd!"
De slaves had cabins neah de "big house". Some of de slaves -- like a seamstress -- would have chillun by de
Marster ... and nobody had bettah bothaw dem chillun! Dey was taken good care of.
When de slaves would come home frum de fields at night, de wimmen would cook de food, and de men and
wimmen would eat, and dey was usually so tired dat dey would go on to bed.
De crops in Alabama would be cleared by July 4, and de Marsters would give us several days off ... dat is, all slaves.
De Marsters would give us pits of barbecue, pies and cakes to eat. Den we'd have plenty to eat ... and it wasn't like
now.
On Christmas mawnins, de Marsters would give us eggnog and so on. Den we'd sing spirituals and songs. No, I don'
remembah none of de songs now. On New Yeah's, we'd sing out de old, and sing in de new.
When we was sick de Marster would send fo' a doctah. We also used different herbs and teas. We had to drink
Blayton's Spring water, which de doctah said was good fo' us, but which tasted like rotten eggs. Alabama was full of
chills -- and -- Alabama was full of chills - and - fevers. Catnip tea was given to de chillun fo' fevers and to make
'em res'. Blue and white sage was good fo' fevers. Calamus root - which looked like an onion - was good fo' de
chillun's colic.
Aftah de wah, when we was free, de slaves would go heah and thah, and a lot of 'em died. Dey would git de black
measles, go out in de woods and die. Dey didn't know how to take care of themsefs and got sick.
I stayed at Marster's house fo' eight months, den hired out ... at ten dollahs a month. Dis was de fus' money I evah
made, and I didn't want to go to school, 'cause I wanted to make dat money. Dat looked like big money to me. I was
proud to have money, 'cause I could git whut I wanted. I have been workin' evah since. I nevah did go to school,
and I kain't read or write to this day!
I was married to General Thompson, an ex-slave, in Alabama. Yes, General was his given name. I was sixteen
yeahs old when I was married, and a white preachah married us durin' a 4th of July celebration! Yes, we had a big
time, and a good time. We come to Texas latah, and my husban' fahmed on de Brazos.
We had eight chillun ... thah is only two boys livin': Howard and Allison. Howard works on a boat somewhere;
Allison lives in Alabama. Don' know whut he's doin'. I have two granddaughters and one grandson.
My husban' died and I buried him. Den I took up wid one Horace Foster, who was nothin' but a gambler. I lived wid
him for about seven or eight yeahs, and he nevah would marry me, so I lef' him. He was jus' a gambler, ennyhow,
and I've prayed de Lawd many, many times to forgive me.
(Gauthier, Sheldon F., Tarrant County, Texas, District #7, 12 December 1937, (No))
