N.C. District: No. 2
Worker: Mary A. Hicks
No Words: 435
Subject: ANN PARKER
Person Interviewed: Ann Parker
Editor: Daisy Bailey Waitt
ANN PARKER
Ex-Slave Story
An interview with Ann Parker in the Wake County Home,
Raleigh, North Carolina.
"I reckon dat I is a hundert an' three or a hundert an' four years old.
I wuz a 'oman grown at de end o' de war.
"I ain't had no daddy case queens doan marry an' my mammy, Junny, wuz a
queen in Africa. Dey kidnaps her an' steals her 'way from her throne
an' fetches her hyar ter Wake County in slavery.
"We 'longed ter Mr. Abner Parker who lived near Raleigh an' he had
maybe a hundert slaves an' a whole heap of lan'. I ain't neber laked
him much, case we had ter wuck hard an' we ain't got much ter eat. He
ain't 'lowed us no fun, but we did have some, spite o' him.
"We uster git by de patterollers an' go ter de neighborin' plantations
whar we'd sing an' talk an' maybe dance. I know onct do' dat we wuz in
a barn on Mr. Liles' place when de patterollers comed, all dat could
git out scated, but de ones dat got ketched got a whuppin'.
"I got seberal whuppin's fer dis, dat an' tother; but I specks dat I
needed 'em. Anyhow we wuz raised right, we warn't 'lowed ter sass
nobody an' we ole'uns still knows dat we is got ter be perlite ter yo'
white ladies.
"Daughter, did I tell yo' 'bout my mamny bein' a queen. Yes, she wuz a
queen, an' when she tol' dem niggers dat she wuz dey bowed down ter
her. She tol' dem not ter tell hit an' dey doan tell, but when dey is
out of sight of de white folkses dey bows down ter her an' does what
she says.
"A few days 'fore de surrender mammy, who am also a witch, says ter dem
dat she sees hit in de coffee grounds dat dey am gwine ter be free so
all o' us packs up an' gits out.
"We got along pretty good atter de war, an' on till lately. Atter I
gits too ole ter wuck I sets on de post-office steps an' begs. I got a
good pile o' money too, but somebody done stole hit an' now I'se hyer
in de County Home.
"I fell an' broke my arm sometime ago, case my right side am daid an' I
tries ter crawl offen de bed. When I gits back from de hospital dey
ties me in dis cheer ter keep me from fallin' out, but I want ter git a
loose. De nigger boy what helps me up an' down ain't raised lak I wuz,
he fusses an' he he ain't got de manners what he ort ter habe."