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Soft of speech but brisk in manner,Valmar Cormier, of the Pear Orchard settlement near Beaumont, tells his story in
English with many French expressions intermingled. He and his sister, Mary Moses, interviewed together, were
slaves of Duplissent Dugat, a small slaveholder of Lafayette, Louisiana, and are both past 85. Although Valmar is
considerably older his mind is alert; while Mary, a huge woman weighing over 175 pounds, shows her age and has
an erratic memory and a very poor command of English. On the second call, only Valmar could be interviewed and
posed for a photograph.
"I 'member de day my ol' marster go to de war. I kin 'member dat jes' like yestidday. He uster like to play de fiddle
an' mek me dance w'en I was li'l. He went to de war an' got kilt. He name' Duplissent Dugat. Mary, my sister, she
don' 'member de ol' marster."
"De slaves did de wuk on de farm. Dey was two growed-ups, my mother Colaste, an' my Uncle, an' two chillen. My
father was a w'ite man, a w'ite Creole man. I nebber carry he name 'til atter freedom. De ol' marster he whip my
uncle onct for slippin' off from de farm 'thout a pass. Den he lef' to go to de war an' lef' my uncle to tek care of de
place. It war'n' long though befo' my uncle tuk off to de Yankees an' nebber come back."
"Dat lef' de place wid my mother an' de ol' mistus. Her name' Mire. Dey's Mary an' dey's me an' some li'l w'ite
chillen. De place was'n' so bery (very) big. Marster was jes' a po' man. He jes' hab a od'inary house. De slave house
was jes' a li'l ol' plank house 'bout step off like dat (12 x 20 feet), on'y it hab a dirt flo'. Dey didn' hab no fine furn'
chure, Law no."
"Us cook in a big fireplace. Tek a log 'bout fo' (four) foot long an' you couldn' git too close to it. Dey hab a big i'on
pot wid a i'on lid. Dey put red hot coals under de pot an' on top de lid. Dey hab a big i'on poker wid a hook on it
w'at dey tek de lid off wid."
"Befo' dey hab coal oil lamp dey uster use ho-mek candles. Dey would kill de brutes an' kep' an' save all de taller.
One day was set off to mek de candles. All de neighbors come an' dey have kinder party an' eat an' t'ings. Sometime'
dey mek t'ree or fo' hunnerd in one day an' lay dem in a big box so dey won' (will not) git bre'k."
"Us mek soap on de plantation too. Dey melt de taller an' cracklin' an' git de lye outn' de fireplace ash. Dey raise
cotton an' co'n an' potat'. Us hab coosh-coosh, co'n bread an' meat an' some fish to eat. We nebber did eat eel cause
it look too much like snake. Snails us jes' go'd through de woods an' pick dem up an' eat dem jes' like dat. Us eat
plenty of crawfish. De chillen would git string an' ol' piece of fat meat an' tie on de end of it. Den us go to de bog an'
drap de string down de crawfish hold. W'en de ol' man grab de meat wid he pincher' den us j'uk (jerk) him up, Dem
crawfish' bile dem in salt water, de tail meat, an' mek a gumbo wid it."
"Us drink French coffee befo' de war but endurin' de war us couldn' git de good kind. Us mek coffee outn' coffee
weed. Dey parch dem weed in a i'on oven, grine it an' put it in a pot mek outn' i'on."
"Yes'm an' sir, I seed de sojers. I run under de house I was so scare'. Mary she hide under de hed in de house. I seed
bofe de Yankee an' de w'ite people an' de Yankees come tek de cattle an' went 'way wid dem. I kin sho' reckillec'
w'en de sojers come. De road was full of sojers comin' an' goin' night an' day. De Yenkee fin' a lot of Confed'rate
sojers close to Duson, de other side of Rayne from here. Dey capture lots of de w'ite sojers at dat place an' brung
dem back by dere. Den atter w'ile us seed dem comin' back from de war. It was all ober den. Dey tol' us we's free."
"Mother kep' wukkin' for de ol' mistus atter freedom. It war'n' long befo' de mistus die. She lef' t'ree li'l chillen but I
dunno w'at happen to dem. Us go den to anudder farm, an' I plow an' Mary she he'p me pick cotton."
"I git marry at 20 w'en I still libin' in Lou'sana. My fus' wife was a French gal. We was marry by de pries' in de
chu'ch. Us hab so many chillen us hab to hab a map to account for all dem. I's de fadder of 19 chillen but some of
dem dead. My secon' wife name'. Louise she still lib wid me. Mos' eb'ry chile I hab was fermers. I like to wuk in de
fiel's too. I's a good co'n shucker but allus been a slow cotton picker. I's unable to tell how many gran' chillen I has."
"I nebber did git but one bad whippin' in my life. D' law in slav'ry time was dat you couldn' go now'er 'thout a
permit. I slip off one time 'thout one an' dey ketch me an' whip me. Some of de niggers was well treated an' some
was treated like animals."
"To my mem'ry de ol' place we stay in was in de country close to La'fayette. But I's been in Texas a good many year'
an' mos' of my chillen here. Dem w'at hab slav'ry tol' dey slav'ry dey's free an' mos' of dem jes' scatter all ober de
country. Dat's why dey's so many Lou'sana niggers here'bouts."
Clarence Drake, PW Houston, Texas District 6 (10-2-37 (Yes))
