*Interview with Perry McGee,*
*Festus, Missouri.*
_Perry Is Right At 87_
"I was born near Fayette, Missouri, not far from New Florence on
September 2, 1850. Dat makes me right at 87 years old. My father's name
was Stephen Estol and Mother's was Agnes Swiney. My grandfather's name
was Albert McGee and he was borned in Virginia. He was a carpenter. My
grandmother's name was Emily and she was a slave in Glasgow, Howard
County, Missouri. I was born just three miles northwest of Glasgow. My
boss den is now a banker in Kansas City. His name is James Alwald
Swiney. Once he was a preacher in St. Louis and I saw him preachin' dere
once. He seen me going along de street one day. I never would have
knowed him, only he said: 'Hey boy, where you from? Where did you hail
from?' I said: 'I hails from Howard County.' He said: 'Come in.'
"I went in and stayed dere mighty near all day and ate dinner with dem.
He come out on de porch and told me not to call him master but to call
him Mr. Swiney. We talked all evening and he told me to be a good boy
and to be truthful.
"You know Abraham Lincoln offered $300 a head before de war for all de
slaves but de people would not sell any more dan you would cut your
shade tree down in your yard. So dey elected Jefferson Davis President.
A man by de name of Grigsby was a slave buyer. It was like you would
want a hog or cow and dey would put slaves on de block and 'cry them
off'. You have got to make profit on de deal. A good strong man would
sell for $300 and some for $100. A house slave was worth more dan a
field slave.
"Dey wouldn't sell my mother. De old mistress would not allow my mother
to be sold. I had only one sister and two brothers. One brother died
when I was a baby. De Rebel soldiers taken me. I was a waiter. When
Price's raid come they took me off de farm. After dey left Pilot Knob
dey come up through Missouri and fired on Glasgow and only 900 militia
and regular soldiers could not fight 90,000 rebels. So dese 900 ran and
blew up de powder magazine and it sounded just like thunder and looked
like a black cloud. De rebels went on across de river and said dey was
going to make de niggers smell hell. De soldier said, 'Hey, little
nigger, we want you to go with us and wait on de Captain.' I was light
as a feather almost and dey boosted me up on a horse behind one of de
soldiers and took me to Glasgow to a eatin' place. Dey had hard tack
made without any salt or any shortnin' about em. There was plenty
springs up there. I had to clean off de horse, and played marbles and
turned handsprings and dey had me for a monkey. I could walk on my
hands. Lots of times dey would chip in and pay me a little. When I left
and was free I had $18 in nickels and dimes and had only one piece as
big as a quarter. I was as 'fraid of a Union soldier as of a rattle
snake. Horace Swiney come to town and begged de soldiers to let me come
back so he brought me back on his horse. I was in Glasgow about three
days.
"One day young Swiney come out and told us we was free and for us to
call him Mr. Swiney and not master. Dere was only one colored family who
left the farm here of 800 acres. All de rest of us stayed right dere. He
had about 70 slaves. De old man made a talk and said dey was plenty of
land dere and we could all stay and work as we had been. After de
freedom dey paid me 10 cents a day or $3 a month and board. Man, I done
everything. I carried water on my head. See! my head is flat and I ain't
got no sense. I had to carry water in 'piggins', something like a well
bucket with one handle so you could catch it with one hand and set it up
on your head. Dese buckets was made out of wood on de place dere by a
good carpenter. De piggins would hold 2 gallons of water.
"I've had 12 children and I was married 55 years when my wife died. I
only got 6 children livin' now, 4 boys and 2 girls. One of my girls,
Alice, is a teacher in de college in St. Louis. She went to four
colleges, at Champaign, Illinois; Lincoln University, Jefferson City;
University of Chicago and at Honolulu University where she is dis
summer. She has been teaching about 5 or 6 years. She teaches geography
and mathematics. I went naked, barefooted, and hungry and send my
daughter to school. She went to grade school right here in Festus. Alice
is 42 now and she wants to marry and have four children. Bessie is my
other daughter, and she has taught school for 18 years. She is a
graduate of Lincoln University and taught at Cape Girardeau 4 years, at
Lost Creek in Washington County 2 years, in Festus for 6 years, and in
Appleton, Missouri, too. Bessie is married now and she don't have any
children. I stays right here with her.
"My son, Granville McGee, lives in St. Paul, Minnesota, and works on de
Northern Pacific Railroad and is a waiter between Chicago and Seattle.
He's been with dem 17 years. His is a six day run and he has 6 children.
Another son, W.C. McGee, lives in Lansing, Michigan. He is a Democrat.
When de Democrats is in power I is a Democrat and when de Republicans is
in power I'se a Republican. Dat's de way it generally goes. My son up in
Lansing is editor of the Lansing Eye Opener, and has been editor for
several years. He is another one who had a pretty good education and is
a graduate of Lincoln University, too. He was a porter for a railroad
before he was a editor. You got to have a pretty fair education to be a
porter now. My oldest son, 61, lives in Rockford, Illinois. He was born
in Crystal City and when he was here he was an inspector in de sand
mines. He is a furnace man over at Rockford in a glass factory. He has
been working for de glass company ever since he was big enough to walk.
He is married and has one child. My son, Oscar, is a railroader and
lives in St. Louis and is a porter on a train what runs between St.
Louis and down in Mexico. He is married and has no children and never
will have none. His wife had a accident.
"After I was free I come to St. Louis and done a little of everything
and worked for my step-father and worked harder for him dan for my
master. I sawed wood and drove a cart. We had a coal and wood yard. I
did not get paid but could eat. I worked for him until one day I met my
father's sister on de street and she asked me some questions on Morgan
Street in St. Louis.
"Den I went with Uncle Jim McGee to live and he took me down to
Greenville, Mississippi and picked cotton and worked as a porter at de
hotel dere. I got $12 a month and board. I didn't stay down dere very
long and come back to St. Louis and worked at Billing's Bank dat was a
saloon and was paid $18 a month and made extra about $25 on tips. I
worked for him for about two years plumb 'till I come down in Jefferson
County. I worked 30 years over in the plate glass factory in Crystal
City and had to quit dere on account of my eyes. I was firing in de
furnace. I sometimes made $4 a day and board at de factory. Den I worked
for 27 years for de Festus Mercantile Company and done a little bit of
everything. I gets $11 a month now as an old age pension.
"I was 21 or 2 when I first voted. My first vote was for U.S. Grant for
President at Hematite, Missouri. My last vote was for F.D. Roosevelt.
Lots of dem wanted to pay me to vote a certain way but I never paid any
attention to dem. I'm a Democrat now. I don't think a man ought to be
allowed to vote unless dey know what dey doin'.
"I'se went to school only three days in my life. De missus learned me my
A, B, C's and all de rest I learned myself. I paid $1.50 a month to go
to night school in St. Louis for three months and learned to read and
spell, but I just can't write. If I had de chance dat de young folks
have now I would go as high as you could go. I can talk some German
'cause I worked for a Dutchman once. De young generation of colored
people ain't goin' to amount to nothin'. Dey don't want to work, but one
out of a thousand might do something. Dey all think dey know too much
and don't want to learn no more. My other boys will never know what my
son knows. De young ones don't appreciate their advantages. Booker T.
Washington had a hard time. We will never have no more like him. Some of
de slave holders treated de slaves better than dey is today. De young
generation is about at their best now. Dey think too much about their
pleasure. Dey don't have enough work to do. I used to work 16 hours a
day. Now dey is got it down to 6 hours a day. I think it was good for
some of de colored people to be slaves.
"I think it would be better if some of the ones now were slaves and it
would teach dem to work. My young mistress treated me good and I went
with her right behind a horse called Andrew. She thought a heap of me
and I thought a heap of her.
"Dere ain't but two classes of people, good and bad, and dey been tryin'
to separate de black people from de white people but de line has already
been cut. Colored women is havin' white children. I think dat is wrong.
Dey ought not to mix dem up, but I ain't goin' to try to separate 'em.
Dat is de reason I voted for de Lincoln Bill. If people do wrong let 'em
be punished accordin' to law no matter what color.
"Slavery hurt de men who owned de slaves. De Negro was only de shade
tree. De master would set back in de shade and tell de Negro what to do.
I hear so many say, 'I'm free!' But there is only one person who is free
and he or she is de one dat God has set free. God set forth in de heart
of Abraham Lincoln dat every man should earn his bread by de sweat of
his brow. Man is his own free agent. De masters measured out bad measure
and dey got worser in de end dan de slaves.
"What is ruinin' dis country is de love for money. God is goin' to rule
dis world."