I
Ah'm one uv dem ole timers. Ah been here since way back yonder. Fust
thing ah kin member is a bad storm an mah ma put us undah de baid. She
wuz skeered hit would blow us away. Ah use tuh play till ah got bigger
nuff tuh work. Ah member we use tuh play runnin. We'd play walkin tuh
see which one uv us could walk de fastest tuh de field tuh carry dinner.
We use tuh jump an we use tuh ride stick hosses an limbs offn trees.
Ole boss learnt mah pa how tuh make shoes an de way he done: Dey kilt a
cow an a deer an take dey hides an tanned dem. De way he tanned hit wuz
tuh take red oak bark an white oak bark an put in vats. Dese vats wuz
somethin like troughs dat helt water an he put a layer uv oak ashes
an or layer uv ashes an a layer uv leather till he got hit all in an
covered wid water. Aftuh dat dey let hit soak till de hair come offn de
hide den dey would take de hide oft an hit wuz ready fuh tannin. Den de
hide wuz put tuh soak in wid de redoak bark. Hit stayed in de water till
de hide turnt tan den pa took de hide out uv de redoak dye an hit would
be a purty tan. Hit didn' have tuh soak so long. Den he would git his
pattern an cut an make tan shoes outn dat tanned hide. We called dem
brogans. We all wore shoes cause mah pa made em.
We planted indigo an hit growed jes like wheat. When hit got ripe we
gathered hit an we would put hit in a barrel an let hit soak bout er
week den we would take de indigo stems out an squeeze all de juice outn
dem, put de juice back in de barrel an let hit stay dere bout nother
week, den we jes stirred an stirred one whole day. We let hit set three
or four days den drained de water offn hit an dat left de settlings an
de settlings wuz blueing jes like we have dese days. We cut ours in
little blocks. Den we dyed clothes wid hit. We had purty blue cloth. De
way we set de color we put alumn in hit. Dat make de color stay right
dere.
Ah'll tell yuh how tuh dye. Er little beech bark dyes slate color set
wid copper. Hickory bark an bay leaves dyes yellow set wid chamber lye;
bamboo dyes turkey red, set color wid copper. Pine straw an sweetgum
dyes purple, set color wid chamber lye. Ifn yuh dont bleave hit try em
all.
Mah ma made cloth while mah pa made shoes. Ah member jes as good when
dey handcuff mah ma's two brothers tuh keep um from runnin off when dey
got ready tuh sell em. Ah seed um handcuff as many as eight tugethuh
when dey marched dem tuh de pen. Yuh know dey had uh pen kinder like de
pond pen fer cows an hosses. Well dey would drive us niggers tuh de pond
pen an dey had er big block in de pen an dey put one uv us niggers on
hit at a time. Bid us off tuh de highest bidder. Mah ole boss wuz a
gambler. People talk bout dis gamblin an drinkin bein a late thing--dem
white fokes done hit way back yonder 90 years ergo, cause mah ole boss
gambled me off, ah clare he did. Gambled me off one Sunday mornin'. Ole
Boss made whiskey jes like dey do tuhday.
Black preachers couldn' preach tuh us. Ole boss would tie em tuh a tree
an whoop em if dey caught us eben praying. We had er big black washpot
an de way we prayed we'd go out an put our mouths to der groun an pray
low an de sound wud go up under de pot an ole boss couldn' bear us. De
white preacher would call us under a tree Sunday evenin tuh preach tuh
us. Dis is whut his text would be: "Mind yo mistress." Den he would ceed
tuh preach--"Don't steal der potatoes; don't lie bout nothin an don'
talk back tuh yo boss; ifn yo does yo'll be tied tuh a tree an stripped
neckid. When dey tell yuh tuh do somethin run an do it." Dat's de kind
uv gospel we got.
We cooked on fiuhplaces in er iron pot; cooked bread in a ubben. We had
ash cakes. We et purty good.
Ah didn go tuh school. Ah wuz awful sly. Ah wanted tuh learn tuh read so
ah hung eroun ole mistess when she wuz teachin huh chillun tuh read. Ah
listened an when she put de book down an went out ah got de book. Ah
kep' hit up till ah learnt tuh read. Ah been teachin one Bible class in
Curtis 42 years. Some uv em dare ask me how ah learnt tuh read so good
an ah tole dem dat a person dat couldn' learn tuh read in a hunnert
years ought tuh be daid.
Ah wuz twenty-two when de silver war broke. Ah know when hit started
but ah don' know whut hit wuz erbout. All I know Jeff Davis an Abraham
Lincoln wuz de two presidents. Lincoln wuz somethin like regular
president an Jeff Davis wuz somethin like er confedric president or
somethin. Ah didn' know jes how hit wuz. Jeff Davis ah think wuz er
rebel and Lincoln republic. When de fight come up dey wuzn fightin tuh
set de niggers free, ah don' think. At de time dey wuz fightin ovah de
Union but aftuh de slave owners wuz gwianter take de innocent slaves an
make dem fight on dey side. Den Lincoln said hit wouldn' be. So dat when
he sot em free. Whoopee! Yo ought ter seed dem Yankees fightin. Aftuh de
battle wuz ovah we would walk ovah de battle groun' an look at de daid
bones, skellums ah think dey called em. Aftuh de white fokes tole us we
wuz free dey didn' give us nothin. Turnt us out widout a place tuh stay,
no clo'es but whut we had on our back an nuthin tuh eat. We jes slept
undah trees an roun bout. Didn' have nuthin tuh eat cept parched corn.
We stole dat. Had tuh do somethin. De nex year de white fokes let us
make a crop wid den fuh somethin tuh eat an clo'es an de women could
work fuh a few clo'es an somethin tuh eat. So in er year er two niggers
went tuh tryin tuh duh somethin fuh demselves, an been tryin tuh help
dey selfs evah since. Ah know all bout hit. Ah wuz tall an ah is now
when dey cried "Free!" Ain't growed nairy nother inch.
Interviewer: Mrs. Bernice Bowden
Person interviewed: Joe Tillman
W. 10th and Highway No. 79
Pine Bluff, Arkansas
Age: 79
"I was born in 1859 down here at Walnut Lake. The man what owned us was
Crum Holmes.
"All I can remember was the patrollers and the Ku Klux. I reckon I ought
to, I seed 'em. I got skeered and run. I heered 'em talk 'bout how
they'd do the folks and we chillun thought they'd do us the same way.
"I 'member hearin' 'em talk 'bout the Yankees--how they'd come through
there and how they used to do.
"I guess we had plenty to eat. All I know was when I got ready to eat, I
could eat.
"My parents was brought from Tennessee but all the place I know anything
about is Walnut Lake.
"I know my mother said I was the cause of her gettin' a lot of
whippin's. I'd run off and the boss man whipped her cause she wasn't
keepin' me at home. If he didn't whip her, he'd pull her ears.
"When we was comin' up they didn't 'low the chillun to sit around where
the old folks was talkin'. And at night when company come in, we chillun
had to go to bed out the way. Sometimes I'm glad of it. See so many
chillun now gettin' into trouble.
"I never been arrested in my life. Been a witness once or twice--that's
the only way I ever been in court. If I'd a been like a lot of 'em, I
might a been dead or in the pen.
"In them days, if we did something wrong, anybody could whip us and if
we'd go tell our folks we get another whippin'.
"After freedom my parents stayed there and worked by the day. They
didn't have no privilege of sellin' the cotton though.
"I didn't start to farm till I was 'bout twelve years old. They started
me bustin' out the middles till I learnt how and then they put the
plowin' in my hands.
"White people been pretty good to me 'cause I done what they told me.
"I went to school a little 'long about '70. I learnt how to read and
kept on till I could write a little.
"I used to vote 'til they stopped us. I used to vote right along, but I
stopped foolin' with it. 'Course we can vote in the president election
but I got so I couldn't see what ticket I was votin', so I stopped
foolin' with it.
"I farmed till 'bout '94, then I worked at the compress and brick work."
Interviewer: Samuel S. Taylor
Person interviewed: J.T. Tims
111 Mosaic Temple, Ninth and Broadway
Little Rock, Arkansas
Age: 86
Occupation: Cook, waiter, and farmer
"I was born in Jefferson County, Mississippi in 1853. That would make me
eighty-six years old. I was born six miles from Fayette--six miles east
of Fayette. I was eighty-six years old the eleventh day of September.
"My father's name was Daniel Tims, and my mother's name was Ann Tims. My
mother was born in Lexington, Kentucky. Ma's been dead years and years
ago, and my father is gone too. My mother's name before she married was
----; she she told it to us all right but I just never can think of it.
"I don't know the name of my mother's master. But my father's master
was named Blount Steward. Pa was born on Blount's plantation and Blount
bought my ma because they brought her from Kentucky for sale. They had
her for sale just like you would sell hogs and mules. Then my father saw
her and liked her and married her. She was a slave too.