dey have dese days. De bush was dey shelter en when it rain, dey meet
round from one house to another. Ride to church in de ox cart cause I
had to carry de baby everywhe' I go. White folks didn' have no horse
den. De peoples sho been blessed wid more religion in dem days den dese
days. Didn' never have to lock up nothin den en if you tell a story, you
get a whippin. Now de peoples tell me to tell a story. I been cleanin up
a lady porch en she tell me to tell anybody what come dere dat she ain'
home. A lady come en ax fer her en I tell her she say anybody come here,
tell em I ain' home. If you don' believe she here, look in de bedroom.
Miss Willcox come out dere en beat me in de back. I tell her don' read
de Bible en tell me to tell a story. I ain' gwine tell no story cause my
white folks learnt me not to do dat. I knows people was better in dem
times den dey is now. Dey teach you how you ought to treat your neighbor
en never hear no bad stories nowhe'. Massa en Missus taught me to say a
prayer dat go like dis:
"De angels in Heaven love us,
Bless mamma en bless papa,
Bless our Missus,
Bless de man dat feedin us,
For Christ sake."
"De peoples use herb medicines for dey cures in dem days dat dey get out
de woods. I make a herb medicine dat good for anything out de roots of
three herbs mix together. Couldn' tell you how I make it cause dat
would ruin me. Town people try to buy de remedy from me, but Dr. McLeod
tell me not to sell it. Dey offer me $1500.00 for it, but I never take
it."
"You want my mind, my heart, de truth en I gwine tell you it just like I
see it. Since de colored peoples got de law, dey get in all kind of
devilment. Dat how-come if I had to go back, I would go back to slavery
en stay wid my white folks."
Source: Sylvia Cannon, ex-slave, age 85, Florence. S. C.
Personal interview by H. Grady Davis and Mrs.
Lucile Young, and written up in question and
answer form. Rewritten in story form by Annie Ruth
Davis.
FUNERAL SONG
Star in de east en star in de west,
I wish de star was in my breast.
Mother is home, sweet home,
Mother is home, sweet home,
Want to join de angel here.
What a blessed home, sweet home,
What a blessed home, sweet home,
Want to join de angel here.
(You can sing bout father, brother, sister en all.)
Sylvia Cannon,
Ex-Slave, age 85,
May 21, 1937,
Florence, S. C.
FUNERAL SONG
Come ye dat love de Lord,
En let your joys be known.
Hark from de tomb,
En hear my tender voice.
By de grace of God I'll meet you
On Canaan Happy Shore.
Oh, mother, where will I meet you on Canaan Happy Shore?
En by de grace of God I'll meet you on Canaan Happy Shore.
(Shaking hands, marching around grave. White en Colored marched from
church to graveyard. Old people in de ox cart en young people walking.
Didn' have coffins like dey do now. Build de coffin en black it wid
smut. Blacksmith make de nails. Could see in de box.)
Sylvia Cannon,
Ex-Slave, age 85,
May 21, 1937,
Florence, S. C.
Project No. 1885-(1)
Prepared by Mrs. Genevieve Chandler
Place, Murrells Inlet, S. C.
Date, March 25, 1937
Typed by M. C., N. Y. A.
No Words ----
Reduced from Words ----
Rewritten by ----
[~HW: Georgetown Co~]
[~HW: HEAVEN'S GATE CHURCH~]
(Verbatim conversation by Uncle Albert Carolina.):
When asked about the founding of Heaven's Gate colored Methodist
church Rev. Albert Carolina answered:
"In the beginning of Freedom they separate us from whites.
'Sixty one the war begun;
Sixty four the war was o'er."
"Rev. Zacharias Duncan wuz the man. He the one built Heaven Gate church.
Brother Henry Smith and Brother David Kidd and old man Jackson Heywood
wuz the old ones built it. Some more been there. Can't think of them.
Old man Jim Beaty wuz one. Can't remember no more. He wuz Allston man.
(That means he was a slave owned by the Allstons) Uncle Dave Kidd, he
owned a tract of land in the Savannah.
"Brought us up in Sabbus (Sabbath) school. Sunrise prayer-meeting. Ten
o'clock Sunday school. Leven o'clock the service. Three o'clock service
again. Eight at night--service again. Raise us taughen (taught) in the
church. Steal off Slavery time in they own house and have class meeting.
Driver come find'em, whip'em. Th' patrolls come riding down th' road.
Four plait whip. Two big black dog. White pat-roller. Ketch without
pass, they whip me. Crawling. (I was crawling). But I walk then and walk
every since! Bo-cart. Dat's what they call it--'Bo-cart'. (Crude home
made baby walker.) Bout seventy seven years since I start. Remember
nother thing going on in them time. Mausser gin (give) the women a task.
Didn't done it. Next day didn't done it. Saturday come, task time out!
Driver! I tell yuh th' truth, you could hear those people, 'Murder!
Murder!'
"Judge Kershaw was a fine man. His boy William--I and William born the
same day.
"We never has met th' bed yet, without family prayer--and never get up
without it. Didn't low them with a book in they hand. The Driver learn
you at night if he like you. Try to out-wage (educate) you at night.
Didn't have any school.
"Mother's father Indian. Brighter than, who? Who round here bright as my
Grand-father? Hannah! Hair was long. Wouldn't stay home. Lives in th'
swamp. Wouldn't stay out. Grandmother wuz African. She had a little bowl
make out of clay."
Uncle Albert Carolina, age 87 (colored)
Murrells Inlet, S. C.
March 8th, 1937.
(A description followed of how his grand-parents built a kiln of clay
pots and baked them.)
Project #-1655
Phoebe Faucette
Hampton County
SILVIA CHISOLM
Ex-Slave 88 Years Old
"Aunt Silvie", sitting out in the sunshine in the yard of a small negro
cabin, on a warm day in January, seemed very old and feeble. Her answers
to questions were rather short and she appeared to be preoccupied.
"I been fifteen year old when de Yankee come--fifteen de sixth of June.
I saw 'em burn down me Massa's home, an' everythin'. I 'members dat. Ole
man Joe Bostick was me Massa. An' I knows de Missus an' de Massa used to
work us. Had de overseer to drive us! Work us till de Yankees come! When
Yankee come dey had to run! Dat how de buildin' burn! Atter dey didn't
find no one in it, dey burn! De Marshall house had a poor white woman in
it! Dat why it didn't burn! My Massa's Pineland place at Garnett was
burn, too. Dey never did build dis un (one) back. Atter dey come back,
dey build deir house at de Pineland place.
"I wus mindin' de overseer's chillun. Mr. Beestinger was his name! An'
his wife, Miss Carrie! I been eight year old when dey took me. Took me
from me mother an' father here on de Pipe Creek place down to Black
Swamp. Went down forty-two mile to de overseer! I never see my mother or
my father anymore. Not 'til atter freedom! An' when I come back den I
been married. But when I move back here, I stay right on dis Pipe Creek
place from den on. I been right here all de time.
"Atter I work for Mr. Beestinger, I wait on Mr. Blunt. You know Mr.
Blunt, ain't you? His place out dere now.
"Mr. Bostick was a good ole man. He been deaf. His chillun tend to his
business--his sons. He was a preacher. His father was ole man Ben
Bostick. De Pipe Creek Church was ole Missus Bostick's Mammy's church.
When de big church burn down by de Yankees, dey give de place to de
colored folks. Stephen Drayton was de first pastor de colored folks had.
Dey named de church, Canaan Baptist Church. Start from a bush arbor. De
white folks church was paint white, inside an' out. It was ceiled
inside. Dis church didn't have no gallery for de colored folks. Didn't
make no graveyard at Pipe Creek! Bury at Black Swamp! An' at
Lawtonville! De people leave dat church an' go to Lawtonville to
worship. Dey been worshipping at Lawtonville ever since before I could
wake up to know. De Pipe Creek Church jes' stood dere, wid no service in
it, 'til de Yankee burn it. De church at Lawtonville been a fine church.
Didn't burn it! Use it for a hospital durin' de war!
"I'se 88 year old now an' can't remember so much. An' I'se blind! Blind
in both eye!"
Source: Silvia Chisolm, R. F. D. Estill, S. C.
Project #1655
Stiles M. Scruggs
Columbia, S. C.
AN EX-SLAVE WHO CLIMBED UP
WITH WHITE FOLKS.
Tom Chisolm, a sixty-two year old bricklayer, 11 Railroad Street,
Columbia, S. C., is a son of Caesar Chisolm, who represented Colleton
County in the South Carolina House of Representatives for ten years.
Caesar was one of the few leading Negroes, who voted and spoke for the
Democratic Party and was friendly to the leaders of white supremacy
until he died in 1897. Tom relates the following story:
"My daddy was born in slavery and he was always treated good by his
master, de late Jimeson Chisolm, of Colleton County. He could read and
figure up 'most anything, when he was set free, and he had notions of
his own, too. For instance, he marry my mammy. She die soon after I was
born, and daddy say to me: 'Son, your mammy is gone, but you need not
fear dat any other woman will ever boss you. I's through with wives.'
And he never marry again.
"I come to Columbia with him, when he serve in de Legislature. When he
tell de niggers and white folks, back in Colleton, dat he was not aimin'
to run for de Legislature no more, they was sad. One time I go with him
to Smoak's, where Congressman George D. Tillman was to speak on one of
his campaigns. I felt pretty big, when Congressman Tillman smile and
grasp de hand of my daddy and say: 'You's goin' to say a few words for
me befo' I starts, eh, Chisolm?' 'I sho' will, if you laks,' say my
daddy. Soon he mount de platform, and befo' he say a word, both de white
and de niggers clap deir hands and stamp deir feets and smile. My daddy
bow, smile, and say: 'Ladies and gentlemen: We, us, and company sent
George Tillman to Congress long ago and knows what he has done. Now we's
gwine to send him back, and I is a little in doubt as to whether he is
gwine to take us to Washington, or bring Washington down here!' He say,
he jus' git started. But de crowd was laughin', dancin', and huggin' de
Congressman, and daddy laugh and set down.
"He introduce Master Duncan Clinch Heyward at Walterboro in 1902, when
Master Heyward was making his first race for governor. He raise such
laughter and pay so many witty compliments to Master Heyward, dat
Governor Heyward, when he was 'lected, appoint my daddy to an office in
Columbia, and we come to Columbia to live in 1903. My daddy retire at de
same time dat Governor Heyward quit office, in 1907. He later wrote
insurance on de lives of niggers, and he prosper.
"'Bout 1885, my daddy happen to be walkin' near de corner of Gervais and
Pulaski streets, and two niggers meet dere at de time and begin to
quarrel. My daddy stop and watch them awhile. One of them niggers kill
de other, and some time afterward a nigger lawyer come to see my daddy
and ask him: 'Wasn't you dere?' 'I sho' was,' say my daddy. De nigger
lawyer laugh and slap daddy on de back and say: 'Come on.' Daddy come
back in a few hours pretty tipsy. 'Dat lawyer spend a lot on me,' say
daddy, 'but de fool never let me tell him jus' what I knows.'
"A day or two afterward he was in de witness box. De nigger lawyer say:
'Now, Mister Chisolm, tell your tale in your own way.' Daddy say: 'I saw
de defendant and de man, now dead, as they meet. They glare at each
other and begin to talk harsh and cuss each other. Then, one strike at
de other and they back 'way and begin to reach in deir hind pockets.'
Daddy stop, and de nigger lawyer fairly scream: 'Yes, yes, go on!' 'That
all I saw,' say my daddy, 'cause I run to cover. I made it to de next
corner in nothin' flat and pick up speed afterward. So I was two blocks
'way, when I hear de shootin'!' De nigger lawyer nearly faint. He say:
'Who bought you off?' Daddy say he would have told him at de start, if
he'd had de chance.
"At another time, we was down on de 700 block of Wayne Street, at a
nigger gatherin'. We often spend days down dere collectin' weekly
insurance dues, and we knowed most of de people. Dere happen to be a
young nigger dere, back from de West for a visit, and he was a great
bragger. He was tellin' 'bout corn in Texas. 'Dere,' he said, 'corn grow
twenty feet high, with stalks as big as the arm of John L. Sullivan,
when he whupped Kilrain, and half a dozen big ears on each stalk.' De
crowd was thunderstruck.
"My daddy cleared his throat and say: 'Dat am nothin' in de way of corn.
One day I was walkin' past a forty-acre patch of corn, on de Governor
Heyward plantation by de Combahee River and de corn was so high and
thick, I decide to ramble through it. 'Bout halfway over, I hears a
commotion. I walks on and peeps. Dere stands a four-ox wagon backed up
to de edge of de field, and two niggers was sawin' down a stalk. Finally
they drag it on de wagon and drive off. I seen one of them, in a day or
two, and asks 'bout it. He say: 'We shelled 366 bushels of corn from dat
one ear, and then we saw 800 feet of lumber from de cob.'
"Dat young man soon slip out from de crowd and has never been seen here
since. I thinks daddy was outdone with me, 'cause I was not quickwitted
and smart, lak him. He tell me once: 'You must learn two good trades,
and I think carpenterin' and brick-layin' safest.' I done that, and I
has never been sorry, 'cause I's made a good livin'. Governor Heyward
was always a good friend of daddy, and he was proud to see us makin'
good in de insurance business."
Project 1885-1
FOLKLORE
Spartanburg Dist. 4
May 24, 1937
Edited by:
Elmer Turnage
STORIES FROM EX-SLAVES
"I was born near old Bush River Baptist Church, in Newberry County, S.
C. I was the slave of John Satterwhite. My mother lived with them. I was
a small girl when the war was on. My brother went to war with Marse
Satterwhite. When de Ku Klux and paddrollers traveled around in that
section, they made Mr. Satterwhite hold the niggers when they was
whipped, but he most all the time let them loose, exclaiming, 'they got
loose'--he did not want many of them whipped.
"My mother had a kitchen way off from the house, wid a wide fireplace
where she cooked victuals. There was holes in back of de chimney with
iron rods sticking out of them to hold de pans, pots, kettles or
boilers.
"People there did not believe much in ghosts. They were not much
superstitious, but one time some of the negroes thought they heard the
benches in Bush River Baptist Church turn over when nobody was in the
church.
"Negroes most always shouted at their religious meetings. Before de
negroes had their own church meetings, the slaves went to the white
folks' Bush River Baptist church and set up in the gallery. I moved to
Newberry when I was young, after I got married."
Source: Maria Cleland, Newberry, S. C. (80 years old).
Interviewer: G. L. Summer, Newberry, S. C. (5/17/37)
Project #1655
W. W. Dixon
Winnsboro, S. C.
PETER CLIFTON
EX-SLAVE, 89 YEARS OLD.
"You want me to start wid my fust memory and touch de high spots 'til
dis very day? Dat'll take a long time but I glad to find someone to tell
dat to; I is! I 'members when I was a boy, drivin' de calves to de
pasture, a highland moccasin snake rise up in de path. I see dat forked
tongue and them bright eyes right now. I so scared I couldn't move out
my tracks. De mercy of de Lord cover me wid His wings. Dat snake uncoil,
drop his head, and silently crawl away. Dat was on de Biggers Mobley
place 'tween Kershaw and Camden, where I was born, in 1848.
"My pappy name Ned; my mammy name Jane. My brudders and sisters was Tom,
Lizzie, Mary, and Gill. Us live in a log house wid a plank floor and a
wooden chimney, dat was always ketchin' afire and de wind comin' through
and fillin' de room wid smoke and cinders. It was just one of many
others, just lak it, dat made up de quarters. Us had peg beds for de old
folks and just pallets on de floor for de chillun. Mattresses was made
of wheat straw but de pillows on de bed was cotton. I does 'member dat
mammy had a chicken feather pillow she made from de feathers she saved
at de kitchen.
"My grandpappy name Warren and grandmammy name Maria. De rule on de
place was: 'Wake up de slaves at daylight, begin work when they can see,
and quit work when they can't see'. But they was careful of de rule dat
say: 'You mustn't work a child, under twelve years old, in de field'.
"My master's fust wife, I heard him say, was Mistress Gilmore. Dere was
two chillun by her. Master Ed, dat live in a palace dat last time I
visit Rock Hill and go to 'member myself to him; then dere was Miss Mary
dat marry her cousin, Dr. Jim Mobley. They had one child, Captain Fred,
dat took de Catawba rifles to Cuba and whip Spain for blowin' up de
Maine. You say you rather I talk 'bout old master and de high spots?
Well, Master Biggers had a big plantation and a big mansion four miles
southeast of Chester. He buy my mammy and her chillun in front of de
court house door in Chester, at de sale of de Clifton Estate. Then he
turn 'round and buy my pappy dere, 'cause my mammy and sister Lizzie was
cryin' 'bout him have to leave them. Mind you I wasn't born then.
Marster Biggers was a widower then and went down and courted de widow
Gibson, who had a plantation and fifty slaves 'tween Kershaw and Camden.
Dere is where I was born.
"Marster had one child, a boy, by my mistress, Miss Sallie. They call
him Black George. Him live long enough to marry a angel, Miss Kate
McCrorey. They had four chillun. Dere got to be ninety slaves on de
place befo' war come on. One time I go wid pappy to de Chester place.
Seem lak more slaves dere than on de Gibson place. Us was fed up to de
neck all de time, though us never had a change of clothes. Us smell
pretty rancid maybe, in de winter time, but in de summer us no wear very
much. Girls had a slip on and de boys happy in their shirt tails.
"Kept fox hounds on both places. Old Butler was de squirrel and 'possum
dog. What I like best to eat? Marster, dere is nothin' better than
'possum and yallow sweet 'taters. Right now, I wouldn't turn dat down
for pound cake and Delaware grape wine, lak my mistress use to eat and
sip while she watch my mammy and old Aunt Tilda run de spinnin' wheels.
"De overseer on de place was name Mr. Mike Melton. No sir, he poor man
but him come from good folks, not poor white trash. But they was cussed
by marster, when after de war they took up wid de 'publican party. Sad
day for old marster when him didn't hold his mouth, but I'll get to dat
later.
"Marster Biggers believe in whippin' and workin' his slaves long and
hard; then a man was scared all de time of being sold away from his wife
and chillun. His bark was worse then his bite tho', for I never knowed
him to do a wicked thing lak dat.
"How long was they whipped? Well, they put de foots in a stock and clamp
them together, then they have a cross-piece go right across de breast
high as de shoulder. Dat cross-piece long enough to bind de hands of a
slave to it at each end. They always strip them naked and some time they
lay on de lashes wid a whip, a switch or a strap. Does I believe dat was
a great sin? No sir. Our race was just lak school chillun is now. De
marster had to put de fear of God in them sometime, somehow, and de
Bible don't object to it.
"I see marster buy a many a slave. I never saw him sell but one and he
sold dat one to a drover for $450.00, cash down on de table, and he did
dat at de request of de overseer and de mistress. They was uneasy 'bout
him.
"They give us Christmas Day. Every woman got a handkerchief to tie up
her hair. Every girl got a ribbon, every boy a barlow knife, and every
man a shin plaster. De neighbors call de place, de shin plaster, Barlow,
Bandanna place. Us always have a dance in de Christmas.
"After freedom when us was told us had to have names, pappy say he love
his old Marster Ben Clifton de best and him took dat titlement, and I's
been a Clifton ever since.
"Go way, white folks! What everthing mate for? De birds, de corn tassle
and de silk, man and woman, white folks and colored folks mates. You ask
me what for I seek out Christina for to marry. Dere was sumpin' 'bout
dat gal, dat day I meets her, though her hair had 'bout a pound of
cotton thread in it, dat just 'tracted me to her lak a fly will sail
'round and light on a 'lasses pitcher. I kept de Ashford Ferry road hot
'til I got her. I had to ask her old folks for her befo' she consent.
Dis took 'bout six months. Everything had to be regular. At last I got
de preacher, Rev. Ray Shelby to go down dere and marry us. Her have been
a blessin' to me every day since.
"Us have seven chillun. They's scattered east, west, north, and south.
De only one left is just David, our baby, and him is a baby six foot
high and fifty-one years old.
"Yes sir, us had a bold, drivin', pushin', marster but not a
hard-hearted one. I sorry when military come and arrest him. It was dis
a way, him try to carry on wid free labor, 'bout lak him did in slavery.
Chester was in military district no. 2. De whole state was under dat
military government. Old marster went to de field and cuss a nigger
woman for de way she was workin', choppin' cotton. She turnt on him wid
de hoe and gashed him 'bout de head wid it. Him pull out his pistol and
shot her. Dr. Babcock say de wound in de woman not serious. They swore
out a warrant for Marster Biggers, arrest him wid a squad, and take him
to Charleston, where him had nigger jailors, and was kicked and cuffed
'bout lak a dog. They say de only thing he had to eat was corn-meal-mush
brought 'round to him and other nice white folks in a tub and it was
ladeled out to them thru de iron railin' into de palms of dere hands.
Mistress stuck by him, went and stayed down dere. The filthy prison and
hard treatments broke him down, and when he did get out and come home,
him passed over de river of Jordan, where I hopes and prays his soul
finds rest. Mistress say one time they threatened her down dere, dat if
she didn't get up $10,000 they would send him where she would never see
him again.
"Well, I must be goin'. Some day when de crops is laid by and us get de
boll weevil whipped off de field, I'll get David to bring me and dat
gal, Christina, you so curious 'bout, to Winnsboro to see you. Oh, how
her gonna laugh and shake her sides when I get home and tell her all
'bout what's down on dat paper! You say it's to be sent to Washington?
Why, de President and his wife will be tickled at some of them things.
I's sure they will. Dat'll make Christina have a great excitement when I
tell her we is to be talked 'bout way up dere. I 'spect it will keep her
wake and she'll be hunchin' me and asking me all thru de night, what I
give in.
"Oh, well, I's thankful for dis hour in which I's been brought very near
to de days of de long long ago. Maybe I'll get a pension and maybe I
won't. Just so de Lord and de President take notice of us, is enough for
me."
Project 1885-1
From Field Notes.
Spartanburg, Dist. 4
April 29, 1937
Edited by:
Elmer Turnage
FOLK LORE: FOLK TALES (Negro)