Slave Narratives, Oklahoma

V >> Various >> Slave Narratives, Oklahoma

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Mammy told him she could bear her own expenses. I remember I didn't
know what "expenses" was, and I thought it was something I was going
to have to help carry all the way back.

It was a long time after he knew we was free before he told us. He
tried to keep us, I reckon, but had to let us go. He died pretty soon
after he told us, and some said his heart just broke and some said
some Negroes poisoned him. I didn't know which.

Anyways we had to straggle back the best way we could, and me and
mammy just got along one way and another till we got to a ferry over
the Red River and into Arkansas. Then we got some rides and walked
some until we got to Fort Smith. They was a lot of Negro camps there
and we stayed awhile and then started out to Fort Gibson because we
heard they was giving rations out there. Mammy knew we was Cherokee
anyway, I guess.

That trip was hell on earth. Nobody let us ride and it took us nearly
two weeks to walk all that ways, and we nearly starved all the time.
We was skin and bones and feet all bloody when we got to the Fort.

We come here to Four Mile Branch to where the Negroes was all setting
down, and pretty soon Mammy died.

I married Oliver Wilson on January second, 1878. He used to belong to
Mr. DeWitt Wilson of Tahlequah, and I think the old people used to
live down at Wilson Rock because my husband used to know all about
that place and the place where I was borned. Old Mister DeWitt Wilson
give me a pear tree the next year after I was married, and it is still
out in my yard and bears every year.

I was married in a white and black checkedy calico apron that I
washed for Mr. Tim Walker's mother Lizzie all day for, over close to
Ft. Gibson, and I was sure a happy woman when I married that day. Him
and me both got our land on our Cherokee freedman blood and I have
lived to bury my husband and see two great grandchildren so far.

I bless God about Abraham Lincoln. I remember when my mammy sold
pictures of him in Fort Smith for a Jew. If he give me my freedom I
know he is in Heaven now.

I heard a lot about Jefferson Davis in my life. During the War we hear
the Negroes singing the soldier song about hand Jeff Davis to a apple
tree, and old Master tell about the time we know Jeff Davis. Old
Master say Jeff Davis was just a dragoon soldier out of Fort Gibson
when he bring his family out here from Tennessee, and while they was
on the road from Fort Smith to where they settled young Jeff Davis and
some more dragoon soldiers rid up and talked to him a long time. He
say my grandmammy had a bundle on her head, and Jeff Davis say, "Where
you going Aunty?" and she was tired and mad and she said, "I don't
know, to Hell I reckon", and all the white soldiers laughed at her and
made her that much madder.

I joined the Four Mile Branch church in 1879 and Sam Solomon was a
Creek negro and the first preacher I ever heard preach. Everybody
ought to be in the church and ready for that better home on the other
side.

All the old slaves I know are dead excepting two, and I will be going
pretty soon I reckon, but I'm glad I lived to see the day the Negroes
get the right treatment if they work good and behave themselves right.
They don't have to have no pass to walk abroad no more, and they can
all read and write now, but it's a tarnation shame some of them go and
read the wrong kind of things anyways.

Oklahoma Writers' Project
Ex-Slaves
10-19-38
1,534 words

TOM W. WOODS
Age 83.
Alderson, Okla.

Lady, if de nigger hadn't been set free dis country wouldn't ever been
what it is now! Poor white folks wouldn't never had a chance. De slave
holders had most of de money and de land and dey wouldn't let de poor
white folks have a chance to own any land or anything else to speak
of. Dese white folks wasn't much better off den we was. Dey had to
work hard and dey had to worry 'bout food, clothes and shelter and we
didn't. Lots of slave owners wouldn't allow dem on deir farms among
deir slaves without orders from de overseer. I don't know why, unless
he was afraid dey would stir up discontent among de niggers. Dere was
lots of "underground railroading" and I rekon dat was what Old Master
and others was afraid of.

Us darkies was taught dat poor white folks didn't amount to much.
Course we knowed dey was white and we was black and dey was to be
respected for dat, but dat was about all.

White folks as well as niggers profited by emancipation. Lincoln was a
friend to all poor white folks as well as black ones and if he could
a' lived things would a'been different for ever'body.

Dis has been a good old world to live in. I always been able to make a
purty good living and de only trouble I ever had has been sickness and
death. I've had a sight of dat kind of trouble. I've outlived two
wives and eight children. I had 13 brothers and sisters and I was de
oldest, and I'm de only one left.

I sits here at night by myself and gits to wondering what de good
Lord is sparing me for. I reckon it's for some good reason, and I'd
like to live to be a hundred if He wants me to. I'm not tired of
living yet!

I was born in Florence, Alabama. My father's name was Thomas Woods and
my mammy was Frances Foster. Mammy belonged to Wash Foster and father
was owned by Moses Woods, who lived on an adjoining plantation. He
worked for his Master ever' day but spent each night wid us. He walked
'bout a mile to his work ever' day.

Master Wash was a poor man when he married Miss Sarah Watkins of
Richmond, Virginia. Her father was as rich as cream, he owned 7
plantations and 200 slaves to each plantation. When Master Wash and
Miss Sarah got married her father give her 50 slaves. Ever'body said
Miss Mary jest married Master Wash because he was a purty boy, and he
sure was a fine looking man.

He was good and kind to all his slaves when he was sober, but he was
awful crabbed and cross when he was drunk, and he was drunk most of de
time. He was hard to please and sometimes he would whip de slaves. I
remember seeing Master Wash whup two men once. He give 'em 200 lashes.

Miss Sarah was de best woman in de world. It takes a good woman to
live wid a drunkard.

Two of the men ran away one time and was gone till dey got tired of
staying away. Master Wash wouldn't let anyone hunt 'em. When dey
finally come home he had dem strapped in stocks and den deir bodies
bared to de waist and he sure did ply de lash. I guess he whupped 'em
harder dan he would if he hadn't been so full of whisky.

He never did sell any of his slaves. He kept the 50 dat Miss Sarah's
father give 'em and deir increase. He bought some ever' time dey had a
sale. He owned two plantations and dey was about a hundred slaves on
each one. Him and his family lived in town.

Me and a boy named John was sized and put to work when we was about
nine or ten years old. We was so bad dey had to put us to work as dey
couldn't do any thing else with us. We'd chase de pigs and ride de
calves and to punish us dey made us tote water to de hands. Dey was so
many hands to water dat it kept us busy running back and forth with de
water. De next year dey put me to plowing and him to hoeing. We made
regular hands from den on.

If we had behaved ourselves we wouldn't a'had to go to work till we
was fourteen or fifteen anyway. Slave owners was awful good to deir
nigger chaps for dey wanted 'em to grow up to be strong men and women.

Dey was about thirty children on our plantation. Two women looked
after us and took care of us till our parents come in from de field.
Dey cooked for us and always gave us our supper and sent us home to
our parents for de night.

Our food was placed on a long table in a trough. Each child had a
spoon and four of us eat out of one trough. Our food at night was
mostly milk and bread. At noon we had vegetables, bread, meat and
milk. He gave us more and better food than he did his field hands. He
said he didn't want none of us to be stunted in our growing.

He bought our shoes for us but cloth for our clothes was spun and wove
right there on de farm. In summer us boys wore long tailed shirts and
no pants. I've plowed dat way a many a day. We was glad to see it git
warm in de spring so we could go barefooted and go wid out our pants.

Our overseers lived near de quarters and every morning about four o'
clock dey'd blow a horn [HW: to] wake us up. We knowed it meant to git
up and start de day. We was in de field by de time we could see. We
always fed our teams at night. We'd give 'em enough to keep 'em eating
all night so we wouldn't have to feed 'em in de morning.

Master Wash Foster and his family lived in de finest house in
Florence, Ala. It was a fine, large two-story house, painted white as
nearly all de houses was in dem days. Dere was big gallery in front
and back and a fine lawn wid big cedar and chestnut trees all 'round
de house.

He had a fine carriage and a pair of spanking bays dat cost him $500
apiece. Old Monroe was his coachman and dey made a grand sight. Monroe
kept de nickel plated harness and carriage trimmings shining and de
team was brushed slick and clean and dey sure stepped out.

We lived on de plantation about eight miles from town and we liked for
de family to come out to de farm. Dey was four children, Wash, Jack,
Sarah and Sally and dey always played with us. When dey come we always
had a regular feast as dey children would eat wid us children. Dey had
dishes though to eat out of. After dinner we would run and play Peep
Squirrel. I think dey call it hide-and-seek now.

My mother was a regular field hand till Miss Sarah decided to take her
into town to take care of her children. Dey all called her Frank
instead of Frances. I used to get to go to town to visit my mother and
we'd have glorious times I tell you.

We'd go out and gather hickory nuts, hazel nuts, pig nuts, and
walnuts. We'd all set around de fire and eat nuts and tell ghost tales
ever' night. Master Wash raised lots of apples too, and we had all
that we wanted of dem to eat.

I saw lots of Yankee soldiers. Sherman and Grant's armies marched by
our house and camped at DeCatur, Ala. It took dem three days to pass.
We wasn't afraid of dem.

In the second year of de war some Yankee soldiers come through and
gathered up all de slaves and took us to Athens, Ala., and put us on a
Government farm. We stayed dere till de end of de War. My father died
jest before dey took us away.

My mother and us children were on de farm together and dey treated us
all mighty good. We had plenty of good food and clothes.

Master Wash came to see us while we was on de Government farm. He was
left in a bad shape and we was all sorry for him. A lot of his hands
went back to him after de Surrender but we never did. Mother married
another man named Goodloe and we all went to Arkansas, near Little
Rock. Dis was his former home. I was about nineteen or twenty years
old at this time.

I never sent to school. My wife taught me how to read de Bible but I
never learned to write. I have good eyesight. I guess dat is cause I
never put dem out reading and going to moving picture shows.

When any of my family was sick I always sent for de doctor. We had a
few of our own home remedies dat we used also. We boiled poke root and
bathed in it for a cure for rheumatism.

A tea made from May apples was used for a physic.

Oklahoma Writers' Project
Ex-Slaves

ANNIE YOUNG
Age 86
Oklahoma City, Okla.

I was born in 1851, makes me 86 years old. I was born in Middle
Tennessee, Summers County. My mother was put on a block and sold from
me when I was a child. I don't remember my father real good. Sister
Martha, Sister Sallie, nor Sister Jane wasn't sold. But my brother
John was. My mother's name is Rachel Donnahue. We lived in a log hut.
The white folks lived in a frame white building sitting in a big grove
yard. Old master owned a big farm.

We ate molasses, bread and butter and milk in wooden bowls and
crumbled our bread up in it. Old master had big smokehouses of meat.
Dey ate chickens, possums and coons, and my old auntie would barbecue
rabbits for de white folks. We ate ash cakes too.

I washed dishes, swept de yard, and kept de yard clean wid weed brush
brooms. I never earned no money. All de slaves had gardens, and
chickens too. My auntie, dey let her have chickens of her own and she
raised chickens, and had a chicken house and garden down in de woods.

I remember in time of de War dey'd send me down in de woods to pick up
chips and git wood. All de men had gone to de army. One morning and
t'was cold dey sent me down in de woods and my hands got frostbitten.
All de skin come off and dey had to tie my hands up in roasted
turnips. Sallie she had gloves, and didn't get frostbitten. After my
old master died, Master Donnahue was his name, his old son-in-law come
to take over de plantation. He was mean, but my sister whipped him.

We had no nigger driver or overseer. We raised wheat, corn and
vegetables, not much cotton, jest enough to spun de clothes out of.

At night when we'd go to our cabins we'd pick cotton from de seeds to
make our clothes. Boys and girls alike wore dem long shirts slit up de
side nearly to your necks. They'd have cornshuckings sometimes all
night long. You see I didn't have no mother, no father, nobody to lead
me, teach me or tell me, and so jest lived with anybody was good
enough to let me stay and done what they did. They'd have log
rollings, with all de whiskey dey could drink.

I remember going to church, de Methodist Church dey call it. We used
to sing dis song and I sho did like it too:

"I went down in de valley to pray,
Studying dat good old way."

I been a Christian long before most of dese young niggers was born. My
other favorites are:

"Must Jesus bear This Cross Alone."

and

"The Consecrated Cross I'll Bear 'til
Death Shall Set Me Free,
Yea, There's a Crown for Everyone,
And There's a Crown for Me."

Yes Lawd, there sho is.

One day a nigger killed one of his master's shoats and he catch him
and when he'd ask him, "What's that you got there?" The nigger said,
"a possum." De master said, "Let me see." He looked and seen it was a
shoat. De nigger said, "Master it may be a shoat now, but it sho was a
possum while ago when I put 'im in dis sack."

Dey didn't whip our folks much, but one day I saw a overseer on
another place. He staked a man down with two forked sticks 'cross his
wrist nailed in de ground and beat him half to death with a hand saw
'til it drawed blisters. Den he mopped his back wid vinegar, salt and
pepper. Sometimes dey'd drop dat hot rosin from pine knots on dose
blisters.

When de Yanks come, business took place. I remember white folks was
running and hiding, gitting everything dey could from de Yanks. Dey
hid dey jewelry and fine dishes and such. Dose Yanks had on big boots.
Dey'd drive up, feed dey hosses from old Master's corn, catch dey
chickens, and tell old Master's cook to cook 'em, and they'd shoot
down old Master's hogs and skin 'em.

De Yanks used to make my nephew drunk, and have him sing (dis is kind
of bad):

"I'll be God O'Mighty
God Dammed if I don't
Kill a nigger,
Oh Whooey boys! Oh Whooey!
Oh Whooey boys! Oh Whooey!"

I don't remember never seeing no funerals. Jest took 'em off and
buried 'em. I remember dat old Master's son-in-law dat my sister
whipped, he called hisself a doctor and he killed Aunt Clo. Give her
some medicine but he didn't know what he was doing and killed her.

I married William Young and we had a pretty good wedding. Married in
Crittington County Arkansas. When I left Tennessee and went to
Arkansas I followed some hands. You know after de War dey immigrated
niggers from one place to another. I owned a good farm in Arkansas. I
came out here some 42 years ago.

I have three daughters. Mattie Brockins runs a rooming house in Kansas
City. Jessie Cotton, lives right up de street here. Osie Olla Anderson
is working out in North town.

Well I think Abraham Lincoln is more than a type a man than Moses. I
believe he is a square man, believe in union that every man has a
right to be a free man regardless to color. He was a republican man.
Don't know much 'bout Jeff Davis but I think Booker T. Washington was
a pretty good man. He's a right good man I guess, but he is dead ain't
he?

I can remember once my auntie's old Master tried to have her and she
run off out in de woods, and when he put those blood hounds or nigger
hounds on her trail he catched her and hit her in de head wid
something like de stick de police carry, and he knocked a hole in her
head and she bled like a hog, and he made her have him. She told her
mistress, and mistress told her to go ahead and be wid him 'cause he's
gonna kill you. And he had dem two women and she had some chillun
nearly white, and master and dey all worked in de fields side by side.

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