SLAVE NARRATIVES - Library of Congress

She was part Indian—^better work hand never was* But she wouldn't he
conquered neither* Ihen they got ready to whip herf it would be half a day
before they could take her0 When they did get her, they would whip her so
they would have to raise her in a sheet* The last time they whipped her, it
took her nearly a year to get over it* So the white man just turned her
loose and told her she was free* She went on off and we never did know what
became of her*
"The Sasons were farmers and they had a large plantation* I don f t know
just how many slaves they owned*
"My father and mother were fed like pigs* They had an old woman that
did the cooking* She was broke down from work* They would give the slaves
greens and the children pot-liquor. My parents were field hands* My mother
was too young to carry a row when she was freed, but she worked on an older
person f s row* They worked from can till can f t* You know what I mean, from
the time they could see till the time they couldn f t* Reb time was something
like the penitentiary now* It never got too cold nor too hot to work* And
there wasn f t any pay* My parents never were given any chance to earn any
money. I heard that my grandpa used to make a little something* He was a
wagoneer you know* He would carry a little extra on his load and sell it*
His old master never did find it out* People knew he had stole it, but they
would buy it just the same.
"The old boss man came down in the quarters and told them they were
free when freedom came* Right after freedom they stayed there on the old
place for a year or more* My mother wasn f t grown and she and my father
married after that* Afterwards they had kind of a fight to get away from
the old man* He was carrying them the same way he was going before the War
*&d they had a row (quarrel)* and left him* I don v t know just what terms
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