N.C. District: No. 2
Worker: Mary A. Hicks
No. Words: 346
Subject: TINA JOHNSON
Story teller: Tina Johnson
Editor: Daisy Bailey Waitt
[Illustration: Tina Johnson [TR: Man named Tina, or wrong photo.]]
TINA JOHNSON
Ex-Slave Story
An interview with Tina Johnson 85, S. Bloodworth Street, Raleigh.
"I wuz bawned in Richmon', Georgia 'round eighty-five years ago. My
mammy wuz named Cass an' my father, dat is my step-father wuz named
John Curtis. I got de name of Johnson frum Gen'l Johnson, I doan know
who my real daddy wuz.
"My mammy belonged ter a Mis' Berry who wuz pretty good ter her, but we
ain't had nothin' but de coarsest food an' clothes. I had one brother
name Dennis an' me an' him wucked wid de others in de cotton patch.
"We had done moved nigh Augusta when Sherman come, an' Sherman's sister
wuz a-livin' in Augusta. Dat's de reason dat Sherman missed us, case he
ain't wantin' ter 'sturb his sister none.
"I ain't seed nary a Yankee, but fer two days an' nights I hyard de
guns roarin' an' felt de earth shakin' lak a earthquake wuz hittin' it.
De air wuz dark an' de clouds hunged low, de whole earth seemed ter be
full of powder an' yo' nostrils seemed lak dey would bust wid de sting
of it.
"Atter de surrender we stayed on an' went through de Ku Klux scare. I
know dat de Ku Kluxes went ter a nigger dance one night an' whupped all
of de dancers. Ole Marster Berry wuz mad, case he ain't sont fer' em at
all an' he doan want dem.
"Seberal year's atter de war mammy married John Curtis in de Baptist
church at Augusta, an' me an' Dennis seed de ceremony. I pulled a good
one on a white feller 'bout dat onct. He axed me if I knowed dat my
pappy an' mammy wuz married 'fore I wuz borned. I sez ter him dat I
wonder if he knows whar his mammy an' pappy wuz married when he wuz
borned.
"We comed ter Raleigh 'fore things wuz settled atter de war, an' I
watches de niggers livin' on kush, co'nbread, 'lasses an' what dey can
beg an' steal frum de white folkses. Dem days shore wuz bad."
N.C. District: No. 2
Worker: Mary Hicks
No. Words: 450
Subject: EX-SLAVE STORY
Story Teller: BOB JONES
Editor: George L. Andrews
[TR: Date stamp: AUG 17 1937]
EX-SLAVE STORY
BOB JONES
An interview with Bob Jones, 86 years of age, County Home, Raleigh,
North Carolina.
"I wus borned in Warren County on de plantation 'longin' ter Mister
Logie Rudd. My mammy wus Frankie. My pappy wus named [TR: illegible]
[H]arry Jones. Him an' my oldes' brother Burton 'longed ter a Mister
Jones dar in de neighborhood.
"Marster Logie an' young Marster Joe wus nice as dey could be, but Mis'
Betsy wus crabbed an' hard ter git along wid. She whupped de servants
what done de house work an' she fussed so bad dat she moughty nigh run
all us crazy. Hit wus her what sold my Aunt Sissy Ann an' hit wus her
what whupped my sister Mary so bad. Dar warn't but six of us slaves but
dem six run a race ter see who can stay outen her sight.
"Young Marster Joe wus one of de fust ter go ter de war an' I wanted
ter go wid him but I bein' only fourteen dey 'cided ter sen' Sidney
instead. I hated dat, 'case I shorely wanted ter go.
"We neber seed Marse Joe but twice atter he left, de time when his
daddy wus buried an' when dey brung his body home frum de war.
"One day about seben or eight Yankees comed 'roun' our place lookin'
fer Reb. scouts, dey said, but dey ain't fin' none so dey goes on 'bout
dere business. De nex' day a few of our soldiers brings Marse Joe's
body home frum de war.
"I doan 'member whar he wus killed but he had been dead so long dat he
had turned dark, an' Sambo, a little nigger, sez ter me, 'I thought,
Bob, dat I'ud turn white when I went ter heaben but hit 'pears ter me
lak de white folkses am gwine ter turn black.'
"We buried young Marse Joe under de trees in de family buryin' groun'
an' we niggers sung Swing Low Sweet Chariot an' Nearer My God to Thee
an' some others. De ole missus wus right nice ter ever'body dat day an'
she let de young missus take charge of all de business frum dat time.
"We stayed on de Rudd plantation fer two years atter de war, den we
moves ter Method whar I met Edna Crowder. We courted fer seberal months
an' at las' I jist puts my arm 'roun' her waist an' I axes her ter have
me. She ain't got no mammy ter ax so she kisses me an' tells me dat she
will.
"Durin' de course of our married life we had five chilluns but only one
of dem lived ter be named, dat wus Hyacinth, an' he died 'fore he was a
month old.
"Edna died too, six years ago, an' lef' me ter de mercies of de worl'.
All my brudders an' sisters dead, my parents dead, my chilluns dead,
an' my wife dead, but I has got a niece.
"Till lately I been livin' at de Wake County Home, but my niece what
lives on Person Street says dat iffen I can git de pension dat she can
afford ter let me stay ter her house. I hope I does, 'case I doan want
ter go back ter de County Home."