An interview with Caroline Richardson who does not know her age. She
resides near the northern city limits of Selma.
"I reckin dat I is somers 'bout sixty year old. Anyhow I wus ten or
twelve when de Yankees come ter Marse Ransome Bridgers' place near
Clayton. Dat's whar I wus borned an' my pappy, my mammy an' we 'leben
chilluns 'longed ter Marse Ransome an' Mis' Adeline. Dar wus also young
Marse George an' young Miss Betsy who I 'longed to.
"Mis' Adeline wus little an' puny an' Marse Ransome wus big an' stout,
dat's why it am funny dat mammy won't let Mis' Adeline whup her but she
don't say nothin' when de marster gits de whup. Dere ain't nobody got
many whuppin's nohow an' a slave on marster's place had ter be mean ter
git a whuppin'. You see mammy would sass dem all.
"We ain't heard much 'bout de war, nothin' lak we heard 'bout de world
war. I knows dat nobody from our plantation ain't gone ter dat war case
Marse Ransome was too old an' Marse George wus a patteroller, or maybe
he wus just too young. Dar was a little bit of talk but most of it we
ain't heard. I tended to de slave babies, but my mammy what cooked in
de big house heard some of de war talk an' I heard her a-talkin' to
pappy about it. When she seed me a-listenin' she said dat she'd cut my
year off iffen I told it. I had seen some of de slaves wid clipped
years an' I wanted to keep mine, so I ain't said nothin'.
"One day Mis' Betsy come out ter de yard an' she sez ter we chilluns,
'You has got de habit of runnin' ter de gate to see who can say howdy
first to our company, well de Yankees will be here today or tomorrow
an' dey ain't our company. In fact iffen yo' runs ter de gate ter meet
dem dey will shoot you dead.'
"Ober late dat evenin' I heard music an' I runs ter de gate ter see
whar it am. Comin' down de road as fast as dey can I sees a bunch of
men wid gray suits on a-ridin' like de debil. Dey don't stop at our
house at all but later I heard dat dey wus Wheeler's cavalry, de very
meanest of de Rebs, though 'tis said dat dey wus brave in battle.
"About a hour atter Wheeler's men come by de Yankees hove into sight.
De drums wus beatin', de flags wavin' an' de hosses prancin' high. We
niggers has been teached dat de Yankees will kill us, men women an'
chilluns. De whole hundert or so of us runs an' hides.
"Yes mam, I 'members de blue uniforms an' de brass buttons, an' I
'members how dey said as dey come in de gate dat dey has as good as won
de war, an' dat dey ort ter hang de southern men what won't go ter war.
"I reckin dat dey talk purty rough ter Marse Ransome. Anyhow, mammy
tells de Yankee Captain dat he ort ter be 'shamed of talkin' ter a old
man like dat. Furder more, she tells dem dat iffen dat's de way dey're
gwine ter git her freedom, she don't want it at all. Wid dat mammy
takes Mis' Betsy upstairs whar de Yankees won't be a-starin' at her.
"One of de Yankees fin's me an' axes me how many pairs of shoes I gits
a year. I tells him dat I gits one pair. Den he axes me what I wears in
de summertime. When I tells him dat I ain't wear nothin' but a shirt,
an' dat I goes barefooted in de summer, he cusses awful an' he damns my
marster.
"Mammy said dat dey tol' her an' pappy dat dey'd git some land an' a
mule iffen dey wus freed. You see dey tried ter turn de slaves agin
dere marsters.
"At de surrender most of de niggers left, but me an' my family stayed
fer wages. We ain't really had as good as we done before de war, an'
'cides dat we has ter worry about how we're goin' ter live.
"We stayed dar at de same place, de ole Zola May place, on de Wake an'
Johnston line, fer four or five years an' I went to school a little
bit. Atter we left dar we went to Mr. John H. Wilson's place near
Wilson's Mill. It wus at de end of dese ten years dat mammy wus gwine
ter whup Bill, my brother, so he went off ter Louisanna an' we ain't
seed him since.
"At de end of dis time I married Barney Richardson an' we had three
chilluns, who am all dead now. We worked an' slaved till we bought dis
house an' paid fer it, den in 1918 he died. I married John Haskins de
second time but he's been dead now fer about ten years.
"I told you dat I owned dis shack but you see how de top has come ter
pieces an' de steps has fell down. I'm behind in my taxes too so I'm
'spectin' dem ter take it away from me at any time. I has been
dependent on de white folks now fer four or five years. De county gives
me two dollars a month an' de white folks gives me a little now an'
den. You see dat I can't straighten up so I can't work in five years.
"Drawin' water out of dat well wid no curb shore bothers me too, come
an' look at it."
I looked at the well and in the well and was horrified. There was no
curbing at all, only a few rotting planks laid over the hole, and on
these she stood right over the water while she drew up the heavy bucket
with a small rope and without the aid of a wheel. "I reckin dat some of
dese days somebody will draw me outen dis well," she continued briskly.
"Anyhow hit don't matter much.
"You see dat little patch, wid de roastin' ears comin' an' de peas
a-bloomin'. I grubbed it up wid my hoe an' planted it myself. Iffen you
can spare it I wish you'd give me a quarter an' iffen you're round here
'bout three weeks stop an' git you a mess of peas."
N.C. District: No. 2
Worker: T. Pat Matthews
No. Words: 638
Subject: CHARITY RIDDICK
Story teller: Charity Riddick
Editor: Daisy Bailey Waitt
[TR: Date stamp: JUN 2 (unclear)]
CHARITY RIDDICK
813 E. D. Street.
"I am 80 years old, you know after 79 comes 80, dats how old I am. A
year ago, a little over a year ago, I wus 79 by de age in de Bible. My
son Ernest Riddick tole me dat. He is gone to Greensboro to work. He
carried de Bible wid him. If I had de Bible I could tell de story
better den I can. My full name is Charity Riddick and my husband wus
Weldon Riddick. He is dead. My father wus named Lewis Jones. Mother wus
named Haley Jones. I had three brothers, Washington, William and
Turner, two sisters Mary and Celia. All my people are dead except my
sons. I have three sons livin'.
"I got sick an' I got way down in my taxes. I am payin' a dollar on' em
every time I can get it. I ain't able to work much. I chops in de
garden to make a little to eat. My sons help me some. Dey have children
you know, but dey send me a little. Dey is all married. One has eight
chillun, the other five chillun and de third has four chillun. Dey
can't help me much.
"I belonged to Madison Pace in slavery time. He dead an' gone long ago
do'. My missus wus name Mis' Annie Pace. Sometimes I got plenty to eat
and sometimes I didn't. All I got came through my mother from marster
and missus. I was in my mother's care. I wus so young dey didn't have
much to do with me. The plantation wus about three miles east o'
Raleigh.
"Dis house did belong to me, but I am a long way behind on it. Dey lets
me stay here and pay what I kin. I rents a room to an old lady fer 75
cents a week. I buys oil and wood wid it. De lights has been cut off. I
uses a oil lamp fur light. Lights done cut off. I can't pay light rent,
no sir, I haint been able to pay dat in a long time.
"In slavery time when de people you call de Yankees come, I wus small,
but father took us and left the plantation. We lived in Raleigh after
that. Father did not stay on de plantation anymore but he farmed around
Raleigh as long as he lived. He made corn, peas, potatoes and other
things to feed us with. I used to hear 'em talk about de Ku Klux. We
wus mighty afraid of dem.
"I used to hear my father say he had a very good master. My min' is not
good but I remember we used water from a spring and lived in a little
log house out from my master's 'great house'. I remember sein' de
slaves but I do not remember how many dere wus. I never saw a slave
whupped. My mother's son wus sold, that wus my brother Washington wus
sold away from her before de surrender. Mother cried a lot about it. I
remember sein' her cry about my brother bein' sold.
"I remember sein' de Yankees. Dey told us dey were the Blue Jackets dat
set us free. I wus afraid o' dem. I am old enough to have been dead
long ago. Guess it is the mercy of the Lord dats lets me live.
"All I know about Abraham Lincoln is what I been told. Dey say, I think
dey said he set de slaves free. I don't know much good or bad about Mr.
Roosevelt. I can't read and write. Dey would not let a nigger have any
books. Dey were perticular 'bout dat. When dey tole us 'bout de Bible
dey say it say obey your marster. Dis is 'bout all I 'members. Yes,
'bout all I 'members."