SLAVE NARRATIVES - Library of Congress

"My mother was a field hand in busy times too* Miss Rebecca had
all the slaves clothes made* She seed to that. She go to the city,
Augusta, and bring back bolts cloth* One slave sewed for Miss Rebecca
and her family* She didn f t do all the sewing but she sewed all the
tine* One woman done all the weaving At ni^bit after they work in the
field Miss Rebecca give em tasks —• so many bats to card or so much
spinnin* to do*
"Master John didn f t want em to work at night but she made em work
all the same. They b'long to her. Another thing the women had to do
was work in the garden* It was a three acre garden* They always had
plenty in thar* Had it pajAinged so the young chickens couldn f t
squeeze through the cracks *
"They had plenty stock and made all the fertilizer needed in the
garden and patches* They had goober patch, popcorn patch, sorghum
patches, several of em, pea patches but they was field cabbage patch
and watermellon patch* They had chicken house, goose house, duck
house and way off a turkey pen* It had a cover on it* They had to
be cleaned and all that manure moved to the garden and patches* Old
man John Griffin was a good man* Things went on pretty quiet bout the
place* They had to do their own cooking* They got for the grown ups
3 pounds meat, 1 pk» meal a week* They fed the young chaps plenty so
they wouldn f t get stunted* They keep em chunky till they get old nough
to grow up tall and that make big women and big men* They stunt em then
when they start runnin* up, it cause em to be low* The owners was
eighty careful/not)to feed the chaps nougji to eat so they make strong
hands*
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