District: No. 2 [320158]
Worker: T. Pat Matthews
No. Words: 1554
Subject: Joe High
Person Interviewed: Joe High
Editor: Daisy Bailey Waitt
[TR: Date Stamp "JUN 1 1937"]
[HW: interesting first & last paragraph glad slavery ended but loved
Missus]
JOE HIGH
[HW:--80 years]
Joe High interviewed May 18, 1937 has long been one of the best
independent gardners in Raleigh, working variously by the hour or day.
My name is Joe High. I lives at 527 So. Haywood. St. Raleigh, N. C. Now
dere is one thing I want to know, is dis thing goin' to cost me
anything. Hold on a minute, and le' me see. I want to be square, and I
must be square. Now le' me see, le' me see sumpin'. Sometimes folks come
here and dey writes and writes; den dey asts me, is you goin' to pay dis
now? What will it cost? Well, if it costs nothin' I'll gib you what I
knows.
Let me git my Bible. I wants to be on de square, because I got to leave
here some of dese days. Dis is a record from de slave books. I've been
tryin' to git my direct age for 35 years. My cousin got my age. I wuz
born April 10, 1857. My mother's name wuz Sarah High. Put down when she
wuz born, Oct. 24, 1824. This is from the old slave books. We both
belonged to Green High, the young master. The old master, I nebber seed
him; but I saw old missus, Mis' Laney High. The old master died before I
wuz born. We lived two miles north uv Zebulon. You know where Zebulon is
in Wake County? I had two brothers, one brother named Taylor High,
'nother named Ruffin High. My sister died mighty young. She come here
wrong; she died. I' member seeing my uncle take her to the grave yard. I
don't know whe're there's enny rec'ord o' her or not.
My work in slavery times wuz ridin' behin' my Missus, Clara Griffin, who
wuz my old missus' sister's daughter. She came to be our missus. When
she went visiting I rode behind her. I also looked atter de garden, kept
chickens out uv de garden, and minded de table, fanned flies off de
table. They were good to us. Dey whupped us sometime. I wuz not old
enough to do no fiel' work.
One time I slep' late. It wuz in the fall uv the year. The other
chilluns had lef' when I got up. I went out to look for 'em. When I
crossed the tater patch I seen the ground cracked and I dug in to see
what cracked it. I found a tater and kept diggin' till I dug it up. I
carried it to the house. They had a white woman for a cook that year. I
carried the tater and showed it to her. She took me and the tater and
told me to come on. We went from the kitchen to the great house and she
showed the tater to the old missus sayin', 'Look here missus, Joe has
been stealin' taters. Here is the tater he stole'. Old missus said, 'Joe
belongs to me, the tater belongs to me, take it back and cook it for
him. When the cook cooked the tater she asked me for half uv it. I gave
it to her. If I had known den lak I knows now, she wuz tryin' to git me
to git a whoppin' I wouldn't 'er give her none uv dat tater.
There were some frame houses, an part log houses, we called 'em the
darkey houses. The master's house wuz called 'the great house'. We had
very good places to sleep and plenty to eat. I got plenty uv potlicker,
peas, and pumpkins. All us little darkies et out uv one bowl. We used
mussel shells, got on the branch, for spoons. Dey must not er had no
spoons or sumpin. The pea fowls roosted on de great house evey night. I
didn't know whut money nor matches wuz neither.
I 'member seein' Henry High, my first cousin, ketch a pike once, but I
never done no fishin' or huntin'. I 'member seein' the grown folks start
off possum huntin' at night, but I did not go.
I wore wooden bottom shoes and I wore only a shirt. I went in my shirt
tail until I wuz a great big boy, many years atter slavery. There were
50 or more slaves on the plantation. Old women wove cloth on looms. We
made syrup, cane syrup, with a cane mill. We carried our corn to
Foster's Mill down on Little River to have it ground. It wuz called
Little River den; I don't know whut it is called in dis day.
There wuz a block in de yard, where missus got up on her horse. There
were two steps to it. Slaves were sold from this block. I 'member seein'
them sold from this block. George High wuz one, but they got him back.
Dey did not teach us anything about books; dey did not teach us anything
about readin' and writin'. I went to church at the Eppsby Church near
Buffalo, not far from Wakefield. We sat in a corner to ourselves.
My brother Taylor ran away. Young master sent him word to come on back
home; he won't goin' to whup him, and he come back. Yes, he come back.
We played the games uv marbles, blind fold, jumpin', and racin', and
jumpin' the rope. The doctor looked atter us when we were sick,
sometimes, but it wuz mostly done by old women. Dey got erbs and dey gib
us wormfuge. Dey worked us out. I wuz not old enough to pay much
attention to de doctor's name.
I 'members one day my young master, Green High, and me wuz standin' in
de front yard when two men come down the avenue from de main road to the
house. Dey wanted to know how fer it wuz to Green High's. Master told
'em it wuz about 2 miles away and gave 'em the direction. Dey were
Yankees. Dey got on their horses and left. Dey didn't know dey wuz
talking to Green High then. When dey left, master left. I didn't see
him no more in a long time. Soon next day the yard wuz full uv Yankee
soldiers. I 'members how de buttons on dere uniforms shined. Dey got
corn, meat, chickens, and eveything they wanted. Day didn't burn the
house.
Old man Bert Doub or Domb kept nigger hounds. When a nigger run away he
would ketch him for de master. De master would send atter him and his
dogs when a nigger run away. I 'member one overseer, a Negro, Hamp High
and another Coff High. Nobody told me nothin' about being free and I
knowed nothin' 'bout whut it meant.
I married Rosetta Hinton. She belonged to the Hintons during slavery.
She is dead; she's been dead fourteen years. We were married at her
mother's home; the river plantation belonging to the Hintons. I wuz
married by a preacher at this home. Atter the wedding we had good things
to eat and we played games. All stayed there that night and next day we
went back to whar I wuz workin' on de Gen. Cox's farm. I wuz workin'
dere. We had 6 chillun. Two died at birth. All are dead except one in
Durham named Tommie High and one in New York City. Tommie High works in
a wheat mill. Eddie High is a cashermiser, (calciminer) works on walls.
I thought slavery wuz right. I felt that this wuz the way things had to
go, the way they were fixed to go. I wuz satisfied. The white folks
treated me all right. My young missus loved me and I loved her. She
whupped me sometimes. I think just for fun sometimes, when I wuz ridin'
behind her, she would tell me to put my arms around her and hold to her
apron strings. One day she wuz sittin' on the side saddle; I wuz sittin'
behind her. She wud try to git old Dave, the horse she wuz a ridin to
walk; she would say, 'Ho Dave', den I wud kick de horse in de side and
she wud keep walkin' on. She asked me, 'Joe, why does Dave not want to
stop?'
I saw a lot of Yankees, I wuz afraid of 'em. They called us Johnnie,
Susie, and tole us they wouldn't hurt us.
I think Abraham Lincoln is all right, I guess, the way he saw it. I
think he was like I wuz as a boy from what I read, and understand; he
wuz like me jest the way he saw things. I liked the rules, and ways o'
my old master and missus, while the Yankees and Abraham Lincoln gave me
more rest.
How did I learn to read? Atter de war I studies. I wonts ter read de
hymms an' songs. I jis picks up de readin' myself.
It's quare to me, I cannot remember one word my mother ever said to me,
not nary a word she said can I remember. I remember she brought me hot
potlicker and bread down to the house of mornings when I wuz small; but
I'se been tryin to 'member some words she spoke to me an' I cain't.
N. C. District: No. 2 [320246]
Worker: T. Pat Matthews
No. Words: 936
Subject: SUSAN HIGH
Story Teller: Susan High
Editor: Daisy Bailey Waitt
[TR: No Date Stamp]
SUSAN HIGH
519 Haywood Street
Raleigh, N. C.
My name is Susan High. I wus born in June. I am 70 years old. My mother
wus named Piety an' she belonged to de ole man Giles Underhill before de
surrender. My father he wus George Merritt an' he belonged to Ben
Merritt, Ivan Proctor's grandfather. Dey lived on a plantation near
Eagle Rock, Wake County. Dey called de creek near by Mark's Creek.
My parents said dat dey had a mighty hard time, an' dat durin' slavery
time, de rules wus mighty strict. De hours of work on de farm wus from
sun to sun wid no time 'cept at Christmas and at lay-by time, 4th of
July for anything but work. Dey were not 'lowed no edication, and very
little time to go to church. Sometimes de went to de white folks church.
Mother said dey whupped de slaves if dey broke de rules.
Dey said de overseers were worse den de slave owners. De overseers were
ginerally white men hired by de marster. My father said dey had poor
white men to overseer, and de slave owner would go on about his business
and sometimes didn't know an' didn't eben care how mean de overseer wus
to de slaves.
Dere wus a lot o' things to drink, dey said, cider, made from apples,
whiskey, an' brandy. Dey said people didn't notice it lak dey do now,
not many got drunk, cause dere wus plenty of it. Father said it wus ten
cents a quart, dat is de whiskey made outen corn, and de brandy wus
cheap too.
Dey said de clothes were wove, an' dat mos' chillun went barefooted, an'
in dere shirt tails; great big boys, goin' after de cows, and feedin' de
horses, an' doin' work around de house in deir shirt tails. Grown slaves
got one pair o' shoes a year an' went barefooted de res' o' de time.
Biscuit wus a thing dey seldom got.
Women cleared land by rollin' logs into piles and pilin' brush in de new
grounds. Dey were 'lowed patches, but dey used what dey made to eat.
Daddy said dey didn't have time to fish and hunt any. Dey were too tired
for dat. Dey had to work so hard.
Daddy said he wus proud o' freedom, but wus afraid to own it. Dey prayed
fer freedom secretly. When de Yankees come daddy saved a two horse wagon
load of meat for marster by takin' it off in de swamp and hidin' it, an'
den marster wouldn't give him nary bit uv it. After de surrender, dey
turned him out wid a crowd o' little chillun wid out a thing. Dey give
him nothin'. My mother saved her marster's life, Charles Underhill.
Well you see he wus takin' care uv a lot o' meat and whiskey for Dick
Jordon, an' de Yankees come an' he treated 'em from whiskey he had in a
bottle, an' tole 'em he had no more. Dey searched his home an' found it
in a shed room, an' den dey said dey were goin' to kill him for tellin'
'em a lie. She herd [HW correction: heard] 'em talkin' and she busted
through de crowd and told 'em dat de stuff belonged to anudder man and
dat her marster was not lyin', an' not to hurt 'im. De Yankees said,
'You have saved dis ole son of a bitch, we won't kill' em den.' Dey took
all de meat, whiskey, an' everything dey wanted. Marster promised mother
a cow, and calf, a sow, and pigs for what she had done for him an' to
stay on an' finish de crop. When de fall o' de year come he did not give
her de wrappin's o' her finger. Dat's what my mudder tole me. We wus
teached to call 'em mammie and pappie. I is gwine to tell you just
zackly like it is we were taught dese things. I wants to be pasidefily
right in what I tell you.
We lef' dat place an' mammie an' pappie farmed wid Solomon Morgan a Free
Issue for several years. De family had typhoid fever an' five were down
with it at one time. But de Lawd will provide. Sich as dat makes me say
people wont die till deir time comes. Dere is some mighty good white
people in dis place in America, and also bad. If it hadn't been for 'em
we colored folks would have ben in a mighty bad fix. We got our jobs and
help from 'em to git us to de place we are at. Dr. Henry Montague
doctored us and none died. It wusn't dere time to go. No, no, hit wasn't
deir time to go. We then moved back to Marster's for a year, and then we
moved to Rolesville in Wake County.
I married den and moved to Raleigh. I married Robert High. He is dead.
He been dead 'bout 30 years. I don't know much 'bout Abraham Lincoln I
think he wus a fine man. Mr. Roosevelt's ideas is fine if he can carry
'em out.