SLAVE NARRATIVES - Library of Congress

Political Trouble about 1888
The darkies and the white folks In Union County had an insurrection
over the polls about the year 1888* In them days, when you wanted to put a
Republican man in, you didn f t have to do much campaigning* They just went
to the polls and put him in* Everybody that could vote was Republican* In
the fall of 1888 they had a great trouble down there, and some of them got
killed* They went around and commanded the Negroes not to go to the polls
the next day* Seme of the Negroes would tell them, 'Well, I am going to
the polls tomorrow if I have to crawl* 9 And then some of them would say*
f I f d like to know how you goin f to vote* 9 The nigger would ask right back,
f How you goin f to vote? 9 The white man would say, f I f m goin 9 to vote as I
damn please* 9 Then the nigger would say, 9 I 9 m going to do the same thing* 9
That started the trouble*
"On Sunday before the election on Monday, they went around through
that county in gangs* They shot some few oX-tha. Negroes* As the Negroes
didn f t have no weapons to protect their selves, they didn f t have no chance*
In that way, quite a few of the Negroes disbanded their homes and went into
different counties and different portions of the state and different states*
Henry Goodman, my grandfather, came into Hot Spring County in this way*
Opinions
"Roosevelt has got himself in a predicament* They are drunk and don 9 t
know what to do* The whole world is stirred up over ltoj one-fourth of the
world should rule the other three-fourths* One-fourth of the world is
white. The Bible says a house divided can't stand* The people don 9 t know
what to do* Look how they fight the Wags Hour Bill* look at the excite**
Rent they raised when it was first suggested that the Union and Confederate
veterans meet together*
7.