Narrative #1 Andy Anderson
Andy J. Anderson, 94, was born a slave to Mr. Jack Haley, who also owned Andy's parents with 12 other families and a
plantation located in Williamson Co., Tex. In view of the fact that all slaves used the name of their owner, Andy was known
as Andy Haley but after his freedom, he changed his name to Anderson, the name his father used because he was owned by a
Mr. Anderson before his sale to Mr. Haley. Shortly after the Civil War began, Andy was sold to Mr. W. T. House, of
Blanco Co., Tex., who sold him again in less than a year to his brother, Mr. John House.
My name am Andy J. Anderson an' I's born on Marster Jack Haley's plantation in Williamson County,
Texas. Marster Haley owned my folks an' 'bout 12 other families of colored folks. I's born in 1843. Dat
makes me 94 years ol', an' 18 years ol' w'en de war stahted. Tharfo', dis nigger has seen a good deal of slave
life an' some hahd 'speriences.
Marster Haley is kind to his cullud folks. In fact, him kind to ever'body an' all de folks lak him. Whuppin's
are not given 'cept w'en it is necessary an' dat not often an' is reasonable when it is given. De udder w'ite
folks use to call us the lucky niggers.
De plantation have 12 fam'lies of slaves. Thar a'bout 30 ol' an' young workers an' 'bout 20 piccaninnies dat
am too young fo' work. Dem dat am too young fo' work am took care ob by a nurse durin' de day w'ile de
mammies am a workin' in de field an sich. A plantation is sort ob like de small town. Ever'thing dat am
used on de place am made thar. So, thar am de shoemaker. Him also am de tanner an' make de leathah
f'om de hides…De plantation am planted in cotton, mosly. Co'se, dere am co'n an' wheat. De con am fo'
feed fo' de stock an' to make co'n meal fo' de humans. De wheat am fo' to make flouah. Mars- ter don' sell
any corn or wheat, 'less if he have extra. Cotton am w'at he raised fo' sale.
Aftah Marster John went away an' de overseer is left in charge, hell stahts to pop. De fust thing he does
am to cut de rations. He weigh out de meat, three pounds to de person fo' de week an' he measures out a
peck ob meal, 'twarnt 'nough. He ha'f starve do niggers an' demands mo' wo'k an' he stahts de whuppin's.
I's guess he 'cides to edumacate dem. I's guess Delbridge went to hell w'en he died.. .I's don' think he go
dat far, though. I's don' see how de devil could stand him.We cullud folks on Marster's place am not used
to sich treatment an' some run off. W'en deys am catched, thar am a whuppin' at de stake. Thar am a
couple ob de runaway niggers dat am never catched.
"I's 'scaped de worst ob Delbridge 'cause he sol' me. I's sol' to Marster W.T. House ob Blanco County. I's
sho glad w'en I's sol', but it am sho't gladness. W.T. House am anudder man dat hell am too good fo'. I's
not on dat place long, jus' a few months 'til I's sol' to his brothah, John House, who had a big plantation
close by.
"I's git one whuppin' while on de W.T. House place. De scahs am on my ahms, see thar, an' on my back
too. Dem I's will carry to my grave. De whuppin' I's git am fo' de cause as I's will 'splain. 'Twas dis away;
De overseer sent me fo' de dry fiah wood. W'en I's gits de wood loaded an' stahts to drive, de wheel hits a
sho't stump, de team jerks an' dat breaks de whippletree. I's tries to fix dat so dat de load could be hauled
in. I's delayed quite a spell while de cook am waitin' fo' de wood. Aftah I's tries an' tries, it am necessary fo'
me to walk to de bahn fo' anudder whippletree. De overseer am at de bahn wen I's gits dere. He am gittin'
ready to staht aftah me. I's tell w'at am de delay. Me am poweful mad 'cause I's hit de stump an' sich.
"De overseer ties me to de stake an' ever' ha'f hour, fo' four hours, he lay 10 lashes on my back. Fo' de fust
couple ob hours, de pain am awful. I's never fo'git it. Aftah I's stood dat fo' a couple oh hours, I's could
not feel de pain so much an' w'en dey took me loose, I's jus' ha'f dead. I's could not feel de lash 'cause my
body am numb, an' my mind am numb. De last thing I's 'membahs am dat I's wishin' fo' death. I's laid in
de bunk fo' two days gittin' over dat whuppin'. Dat is, gittin' over it in de body but not in de heart. No Sar!
I's have dat in my heart 'til dis day. Aftab dat whuppin', I's don't have my heart in de wo'k fo' de Marster.
Narrative #2 Lancy Harris
Mrs. Lancy Harris.
84 years old
407 55th St., N.E.
Born in Edgecombe County, N.C. about July 1852.
I dunno my father nor my mudda. Jessup Powell always went o' Richmond to buy good breeders. Perry
Powell (an ex-slave), who died here last month was one o dem da Jessup Powell bought o Richmond.
Jessup Powell drawd my father and moudda, den Lewis drawd my father and he took the name o Lewis.
Dey neber hab no no chillen. I didn' t no my father. One day my mudda showd me a man driving his
missus to town and said dat wus my father.
I remember when he throwd me ma first dress from the hoot of the marriage. I remember whut it look
like. Yeah, jes a red dress wid black flowers in it.
Ma bed had fo' posts and a cord running from pos' to pos' to make spring. We sleep in a room wid pot
racks near the fire place, a barrel of soap up in a corner, but the floors wus white like a bread tray.
Everything wus in one room. We used to call granpa William Joiner cause he wus a blacksmith and
carpenter. He joined so many things togeder. Ha, ha! my mem'ry goes and comes. Billie was my grandpa's
name. My sight is better now than den, wood you blive it?
I didn't work. I used to stay wid Aunt Kate. I done all the cooking for Aunt Kate -- ash cake, ho-cake.
William Joiner used to fetch possums, coon and sometimes raccoon and rabbit and I used to do the
cooking. My husban' and I used to pick cotton every day. When fodder time come I work Sunday. Some
Sunday I worked my own garden.
So many chillen didn't wear clothes. But the missus owned the loom and de servants weave. When de
chillen are big enough to work dey gib 'em some cloth from the loom. When I got my issue and my
clothes wus good I wud make my cloth into dresses and gib to da chillen.
Old man Jessup Powell married the Doctor' s wife after the doctor was dead. The doctor had lots o land.
All went to his wife so Jessup didn't know how much land he had fo his new missus had plenty o' land and
slaves. I reckon dey had well ni 500 or 600 slaves.
Dick Harrison was another slave owner. He was never married, never had no chillen wid the slave girls. He
was good to his niggers. He never allowed anybody to whip his slaves. "I neber would for anyone to whip
niggers," he wud say. But when Dick need money tho he wud send the nicest looking one to Richmond
jail fo sale. (They evidently had no jail on the plantation. The only jail existed was the one in Richmond.)
Old man Henry Downing (nigger-driver) he wud eat you alive-- L-o-r-d he wus so mean. Yo'ud better not
let him see you wid a book let alone learning to read.
We used to go over to the plantation of ole man Stanley White. Sometimes we used to call him 'Stamper.'
He wud come and preach to us. We wud go up stairs and dey (white folks) downstairs. We had another
preacher we used to call Preacher Gold.
I remember Fred Douglass, Perry Coston from Virginia, and a man by the name of Mason. I shook hands
with Booker T. Washington. I joined the church the year Garfield was shot in the 6th depot near the old
Center Market.
I have two grandsons living somewhere. Their names are George Barnes and Joseph Dellworth.
Narrative #3 James Green
James Green is half American Indian and half Negro, who believes in Fate, and indeed his nearly half century of life has
been so crowded with the unexpected that there is little wonder he considers himself a victim of destiny. He was born a slave,
then became a "free boy", only to be kidnapped and sold in Virginia slave market to a Texas ranchman. His mind is
remarkably clear and his reminiscences are interesting, not only because of his own eventful experiences, but because they shed
colorful light upon the moral conditions that existed in Texas slave colonies.
I never knew my age until after de Civil War when I was set free for de second time. Then my marster gets
out a great big book and it showed dat I was twenty-five years old. It shows more too: It shows I was
twelve when I was bought and $800 was paid for me. Dat $800 was stolen money, cose I was kidnapped.
My mother was owned by John Williams of Petersburg, Virginia. I come born to her on a plantation, and
den my father went about getting me free. He was a full blooded Indian, and had done some big favor for
a big man high up in de courts, and by and bye Mr. Williams comes to my mother and says I am a 'free
boy'. I never knowd what was mixed up in it, but Mr. Williams used to laugh and call me 'free boy, Jim'. I
never had to do much work for nobody but my mother. Then, one day I was playin' around de house, Mr.
Williams comes up and says: Delia, will you let Jim walk down the street with me?' 'All right, master,' says
my mother. 'And, Jim, you be a good boy.
Dat was de last time I ever heard my mother speak, or ever see her. We walks down where de houses
grows close together, and pretty soon we comes to de slave market. I ain't ever seed one before and didn't
knowd what it was. Mr. Williams says to me to get up on de block. It was about so high --(three feet). I
gets up like I was told. As soon as I stood straight I got a funny feelin'. I knows somehow what was
happenin'. But I just stood there. In a few minutes they told me to get down and turned me over to a man
named John Pinchback. Pinchback was my new master. He had St. Vitus dance. It seems he likes to make
niggers suffer to make up for his own squirmin' and twistin'. He was the biggest devil on earth. He loved
whippin.
We starts to leave right away for Texas. My master lives there on a ranch in Columbus. It was a part
plantation and part wild country, and it was owned by two men, Pinchback and Wright. I was put to work
when we got there without eating. I carried water for the work animals. Dat night I makes up my mind to
run away. But de next day they drives me and some other new slaves over to look at the dogs. The dogs
lived in a fine house with a fence around it. Den they chooses me to train de dogs with. I was told I had to
play the part of a runnin' away slave. Before I start they tells me to run any direction I want and after I had
run five miles to climb up in a tree. I didn't know what it meant, but one of the nigger drivers tells me kind
of nice to climb up as high in de tree as I could if I didn't want my body to be tore off my legs. So I runs a
good five miles and climbs up in a tree where the branches was gettin' small.
I sits there a long time. Den I sees the dogs comin'. They had their heads down not lookin' where they was
runnin'. When they gets under my tree they stops and runs around. Den they looks up and sees me and
starts to bark. After dat I never got thinkin' of runnin' away, and I don't believe no slave ever escaped from
Texas in spite of all de stories de niggers tells. Pinchback breeds de niggers as quick as he can, like cattle,
cause dat means money for him. He chooses de wife for every man on the place. No one had no say as to
who he was goin' to get for a wife. All de weddin' ceremony we had was with Pinchback's finger pointin'
out who was whos' wife. If a woman wern't a good breeder she had to do work with de men, but
Pinchback tried to get rid of women who didn't have chillen. He would sell her and tell de man who
baught her dat she was all right to own.
But de nigger husbands wern't the only ones dat keeps up havin' chillen. De masters and the drivers rape
all de nigger girls they want. Many slave women had babies by a white master. Their chillen was brown, but
one of 'em was white as you is. But dey was all slaves just de same, and de niggers dat had chillen with de
white men didn't get treated no better. She got no more away from work dan de rest of 'em.
Narrative #4 Betty Foreman Chessier
Chessier, Betty Foreman
Age 94
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
Oklahoma Historical Society
I was born July 11, 1843 in Raleigh, NC. My mother was name Melinda Manley, the slave of Governor
Henley of N.C. an' my father was name Arnold Foreman, slave of Bob and John Foreman, two young
mastahs. They come over from Arkansas and visit my mastah an' my pappy and mammy met an' got
married doe my pappy only seen my mammy ever summah when his mastahs come to visit our mastah an'
day tuck him rat back. I had three sisters an' two brothers an' none of dem was my whole brothers an'
sisters. Funny t'ing. I stayed in the big house all the time, but my sisters an' brothers was gived to the
mastah's sons an' daughters when dey got married an' dey was tole to sen' bac' for some more when dem
died. I diden never stay with my mammy doing of slavery. Honey I stayed in the big house. I slep' under
the dinin' room table with three other darkies. Doe now the flo' was well carpeted. Don't remembah my
grandmammy and grandpappy, but my mastah was they mastah.
I stayed in the big house and waited on the table, kept flies offen my miz and went for the mail. Never
made no money, but dey did give the slaves money at Christmas time. I eat what the white folks eat an' dey
diden eat no 'possums and rabbits, doe dey eat fish. My choice food was soup an' still is. No gardens
where I lived, cose I diden live on no plantation. I lived in town all the time. Day all had gardens out on
the plantation doe. I never had over two dresses. One was calico and one gingham. I had sich under cloes
as dey wore den.
Mastah Manley and Miz had 6 sons an' six darters. Dey raised dem all tell day was grown too. Dey lived in
a gread big house cross the street from the mansion, rat in town 'fo Mastah was 'lected Governor, den day
moved in all dat mansion. Plantation folks had barbecues and lay crops an' invite the city darkies out. I
weren't hongry, I warent naked, and I got five licks [beaten five times] from the white folks in my life. Dey
was for being such a big forgetful girl.
Mestah had jes' 15 slaves on the place and when his chillun come home to visit ever summah dey had to
bring day own niggers. Dey brung two a piece. I saw 'em sell niggers once. The only pusson I ever seed
whipped at dat whipping post, was a poor white man [likely an overseer] and he was whipped for being
whippin a nigger nearly to death.
Now, I never got no learnin' [never learned to read], they kep' us fum dat, but you know some of dem
darkies learnt anyhow. We had church in the heart of town or in the basement of some old buildin'. I went
to the 'piscopal church mos' all the time, tell I got to be a Baptist. The slaves run 'way to the North 'cause
dey wanted to be free. Some of my family run away sometime en' dey diden catch 'am neither. The
patterollers sho' watched the streets. But when day caught any of Mastah's niggers wid out passes, day jest
locked him up in the guard house and mastah coma down in the mawnin' an' git 'er out, but dem
patterollers better not whip one.
After the war, I went to mammy and my step-pappy. I laid in my bed a many night scared to death of Ku
Klux Klan. Dey would come to your house and axe for a drink and no more want a drink den nothin'.
Lincoln and Booker T. Washington was two of the finest men ever lived. Don't thank nothin' of Jeff
Davis, 'cause he was a traitor. Freedom for us was the bes' t'ing ever happened. Prayer is bes' t'ing in the
worl'. Everybody oughtta pray, cause prayer got us outta slavery.
Name: ______________________________________________ Date: ________ Block: ________
Jigsaw Topic: American Slavery Narratives
As you read and discuss with your group, write down important facts about your narrative. After you have become
an expert on your own person, you will share your findings with a group of classmates & learn about their person.
Important Ideas (from your assigned expert group document)
1.
2.
3.
Overall Summary of Document
Facts and Notable Quotations
Document 1
Summary
Document 2
Summary
Document 3
Summary
Document 4
Summary
Essential Question:
What commonalities did you find in the varied slave experiences you examined?
What were the shared experiences of the enslaved in Antebellum America?
Directions: answer the essential question in at least one paragraph drawing from at least three sources. The
sources will be posted online if you feel that you did not get enough detail from your classmates.
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