An interview with Henrietta McCullers, eighty-seven
years old, of 531 E. Davie Street, Raleigh, North Carolina.
"I wus borned roun' eighty-seben years ago in Wake County. Me an' my
mammy 'longed ter Mis' Betsy Adams an' my pappy 'longed ter Mr. Nat
Jones. I think dat Marse Nat had a whole passel o' slaves, but Mis'
Betsy ain't had more'n six or seben.
"Yo' ax me iffen Mis' Betsy was good ter us? She wus so good dat I
loved her all her life an' now dat she's daid I loves her in her grave.
"We et de same rations what she et an' we slept in de same kind o' bed
she slept in. I knows dat sometimes she'd have company an' she'd do a
heap o' extra fixin'; but she ain't neber fix better fer de company dan
fer us.
"She'd let us have a co'n shuckin' onct a year, an' of course, we had a
heap of prayer meetin's an' a few socials. She ain't wanted her niggers
ter dance case she am such a good Christian, but she let us have candy
pullin's an' sich.
"When de wuck warn't pushin' she'd let us go fishin' an' swimmin' an'
all, only we jist waded, case we ain't used enough ter de water. Yo'
know dat niggers am natu'lly skeerd o' water anyhow.
"Iffen de wuck wus pushin' we wucked from sunup till dark an' Mis'
Betsy wucked too. Man, she wus a wuckin' woman, an' she made us wuck
too; but I loves her better dan I does my own chilluns now, an' dat's
one reason dat I wants ter go ter heaben. All my life when I done a bad
thing I think 'bout Mis' Betsy's teachin's an' I repents.
"I plowed an' dug ditches an' cleaned new groun'; an' hard wuck ain't
neber hurted me yit. De master wus too puny to wuck, an' I often thinks
dat maybe he married Mis' Betsy to look atter him. Dey only had one
man, Uncle Mose, an' so, of course, he had to have some help ter ten'
'bout a hundert acres.
"Most of our lan' wus planted in feed stuff fer us an' de cattle. An'
so we raised ever'thing but de coffee. Sometimes we drunk Japonica tea,
an' done without de coffee.
"On Sunday's yo' should o' seen us in our Sunday bes' goin' ter church
'hind de missus coach, wid ole Uncle Mose high on de box. We can't read
de hymns eben iffen we had a book 'cause we ain't 'lowed ter have no
books, but we sung jist de same.
"At Christmas time we had a party at de big house. Mis' Betsy had sabed
a bushel er so o' de lates' apples an' she made a big dish of lasses
candy an' we popped pop corn an' wus happy. Mis' Betsy always give us
some clothes an' we had a feas' all through de week of holidays.
"When de Yankees comed dey jist about cleaned us out. Dey kills pigs,
turkeys, calves an' hens all over de place, dey gits de beserves an' a
heap o' de lasses an' dey sass Mis' Betsy. All dis wus dem bad-mannered
soldiers' fault, case Abraham Lincoln ain't mean't fer it ter be dis
way, I know. I reckon dat most o' dem soldiers wus pore white trash.
Dey doan keer 'bout de niggers, but dey ain't wanted our white folks
ter be rich.
"De Yankees ain't stayed long in our neighborhood case dey am a-lookin'
fer our soldiers, so dey goes away.
"Did I leave atter de war wus ober? Naw sir, I ain't, an' all de rest
stayed on too. Uncle Mose stayed on too. Uncle Mose stayed de rest o'
his life, but I left two years atterwards when I got married.
"My memory am gittin' so short dat I doan 'member my daddy's name, ner
my brothers an' sisters names. I 'member dat my mammy wus named Piety
do' an' I 'members my fust lesson from Mis' Betsy, 'Doan lie, an' doan
steal, ax fer what you needs, needs, mind you, not what you wants.'"
"Niggers ort ter be back in slavery now, dey'd be better an' happier
dan dey is. I ain't neber had a whuppin' in my life an' dat's more dan
most of dese free niggers can say."