An interview with Adora Rienshaw, 92, of 431 South Bloodworth Street,
Raleigh.
"I wuz borned at Beulah, down hyar whar Garner am now, an' my parents
wuz Cameron an' Sally Perry. When I wuz a month old we moved ter
Raleigh.
"We wuz called 'Ole Issues', case we wuz mixed wid de whites. My pappy
wuz borned free, case his mammy wuz a white 'oman an' his pappy wuz a
coal-black nigger man. Hit happened in Mississippi, do' I doan know her
name 'cept dat she wuz a Perry.
"She wuz de wife of grandfather's marster an' dey said dat he wuz mean
ter her. Grandfather wuz her coachman an' he often seed her cry, an'
he'd talk ter her an' try ter comfort her in her troubles, an' dat's de
way dat she come ter fall in love wid him.
"One day, he said, she axed him ter stop de carriage an' come back dar
an' talk ter her. When he wuz back dar wid her she starts ter cry an'
she puts her purtty gold haid on his shoulder, an' she tells him dat he
am her only friend, an' dat her husban' won't eben let her have a
chile.
"Hit goes on lak dis till her husban' fin's out dat she am gwine ter
have de baby. Dey says dat he beats her awful an' when pappy wuz borned
he jist about went crazy. Anyhow pappy wuz bound out till he wuz
twenty-one an' den he wuz free, case no person wid ary a drap of white
blood can be a slave.
"When he wuz free he comed ter Raleigh an' from de fust I can remember
he wuz a blacksmith an' his shop wuz on Wolcot's Corner. Dar wuz jist
three of us chilluns, Charlie, Narcissus, an' me an' dat wuz a onusual
small family.
"Before de war Judge Bantin's wife teached us niggers on de sly, an'
atter de war wuz over de Yankees started Hayes's school. I ain't had so
much schoolin' but I teached de little ones fer seberal years.
"De Southern soldiers burned de depot, which wuz between Cabarrus an'
Davie Streets den, an' dat wuz ter keep de Yankees from gittin' de
supplies. Wheeler's Cavalry wuz de meanest troops what wuz.
"De Yankees ain't got much in Raleigh, case de Confederates has done
got it all an' gone. Why fer a long time dar de way we got our salt wuz
by boilin' de dirt from de smoke house floor where de meat has hung an'
dripped.
"I'm glad slavery is ober, eben do' I ain't neber been no slave. But I
tell yo' it's bad ter be a 'Ole Issue.'"
N.C. District: No. 2
Worker: T. Pat Matthews
No. Words: 712
Subject: CELIA ROBINSON
Story teller: Celia Robinson
Editor: Daisy Bailey Waitt
CELIA ROBINSON
611 E. Cabarrus St.
"My name, full name, is Celia Robinson. I can't rest, I has nuritus so
bad; de doctor says it's nuritus. I do not know my age, I wus eight or
ten years old at de close o' de war. De ole family book got burned up,
house an' all. I wuz borned a slave. Dat's what my father and mother
tole me. My father, he 'longed to Dr. Wiley Perry of Louisburg, N.C.,
Franklin Co., an' my mother 'longed to McKnight on an adjoining
plantation. I do not know McKnight's given name. My father wus named
Henderson Perry. He wuz my marster's shop man (blacksmith). My mother
wus named Peggy Perry. McKnight's wife wus named Penny. I member her
name.
"I member when de Yankees came ter my mother's house on de McKnight
plantation near Louisburg an' dey went inter her things. When de
Yankees came down my brother Buck Perry drug me under de bed and tole
me to lie still or de Yankees would ketch me. I member de sweet music
dey played an' de way dey beat de drum. Dey came right inter de house.
Dey went inter her chist; they broke it open. Dey broke de safe open
also. Dey took mother's jewelry. But she got it back. Missus went ter
de captain an' dey give back de jewelry. My missus wus de cause of her
gittin' it back.
"I wuz old enough to go up ter where my brother kept de cows when de
war ended. I member where he kept de calves. My brother would carry me
up dere ter hold de calves off when dey wus milking de cows. My marster
would take me by de hand and say 'Now, Celia, you must be smart or I
will let de bull hook you.' He often carried me up to de great house
an' fed me. He give me good things ter eat. Yes, I am partly white. It
won't on my mother's side tho', but let's not say anything about dat,
jist let dat go. Don't say anything about dat. Marster thought a lot o'
me. Marster and missus thought there wus nothin' like me. Missus let me
tote her basket, and marster let me play wid his keys.
"I cannot read an' write. I have never been ter school but one month in
my life. When I wus a little girl I had plenty ter eat, wear, an' a
good time.
"I 'member when my father would come ter see mother. De patterollers
tole him if he didn't stop coming home so much dey wus goin' ter whip
him. He had a certain knock on de door, den mother would let him in.
"I 'member how mother tole me de overseer would come ter her when she
had a young child an' tell her ter go home and suckle dat thing, and
she better be back in de field at work in 15 minutes. Mother said she
knowed she could not go home and suckle dat child and git back in 15
minutes so she would go somewhere an' sit down an' pray de child would
die.
"We lived at Dr. Wiley Perry's one year atter de war, then we moved ter
de plantation of Seth Ward, a white man who was not married, but he had
a lot of mulatto children by a slave woman o' his. We stayed dere four
years, den we moved ter de Charles Perry plantation. Father stayed dere
and raised 15 children an' bought him a place near de town o'
Franklinton. I got along during my early childhood better dan I do now.
Yes, dat I did. I plowed, grubbed an' rolled logs right atter de war, I
worked right wid de men.
"I married Henry Robinson. We married on de Perry plantation. We had
two children born ter us, Ada an' Ella. Dey are both dead. I wish I had
had two dozen children. I have no children now. If I had had two dozen,
maybe some would be wid me now. I am lonesome and unable to work. I
have been trying to wash and iron fer a livin', but now I am sick,
unable to work. I live with my grandson an' I have nothing."
N.C. District: No. 2
Worker: T. Pat Matthews
No. Words: 1239
Subject: GEORGE ROGERS
Person Interviewed: George Rogers
Editor: Daisy Bailey Waitt
GEORGE ROGERS
Ex-Slave Story
"George Rogers is the name. I has carried fur 94 years an' over. I will
be 95 the first day o' this comin' August. Louis Rogers wuz my father.
My mother wuz Penny Rogers. All my brothers an' sisters are dead except
one sister. She is livin' in Buffalo, New York. She is somewhere in
seventy years old. She wuz the baby in our home. My mother an' father
an' all o' us belonged to Felix Rogers. He lived in the edge o' Wake
County next to Greenville County. My mother came from Canada. My master
came here from Canada an' married here. He married old man Billy
Shipp's daughter. Her name wuz Matilda Shipp.
"I cannot read an' write. Dey did not 'low no niggers to handle no
papers in dem days. Master had three plantations an' about one hundred
slaves. We had good houses an' plenty to eat. My master wuz a good man.
We had no church on the plantation, but we had prayermeeting in our
houses. He 'lowed dat an' when dey had big meeting, he made us all go.
We had dances or anything else we wanted to at night. We had corn
shuckings, candy pullings, an' all the whiskey an' brandy we wanted. My
daddy didn't do nuthin' but 'still for him. Whiskey wuz only ten cents
a quart den.
"I have never seen him really whup a slave any more dan he whupped his
own chilluns. He whupped us all together when we stole watermelons and
apples. He made us chillun, white and black, eat together at a big
table to ourselves. We had ordinary clothes, but we all went alike. In
the summer and winter we all went barefooted and in our shirt tails
mos' er de time. His chilluns wuz just as bad fer goin' barefooted as
we niggers wuz.
"We had our patches, and he allowed us to have the money we made on
'em. Our houses were called slave quarters. Our marster's house wuz a
big fine two story-house. We slaves called it 'de great house'. None er
de slaves from Marster Roger's plantation never run away.
"We chillun played de games uv marbles, cat ball, an' we played base,
prison base. At night we all played peep squirrel in the house. We
played blindfold and tag.
"We fished a lot in Briar Creek. We caught a lot o' fish. Sometimes we
used pin hooks we made ourselves. We would trade our fish to missus for
molasses to make candy out uv.
"When we got sick we had a doctor. His name wuz Dr. Hicks. I never wuz
sick, but some uv de res' wuz. We had an old colored man who doctored
on all us chillun. He give us roots an' herbs.
"Yes sir, I have seen slaves sold. My marster died the year the war
started; den dey had a big sale at our house. Dey had a sale, an' old
man Askew bought a whole lot o' our niggers. I don't know his name only
dey called him 'old man Askew'. He lived on Salisbury Street Raleigh,
down near de Rex Hospital, Corner Salisbury and Lenoir Streets. Old man
Askew wuz a slave speculator. He didn't do nothin' but buy up slaves
and sell 'em. He carried de ones he bought at our house to Texas. He
bought my half-sister and carried her to Texas. Atter de surrender I
saw her in Texas once, never no more.
"When de war begin dey carried young marster off. His name wuz William
Rogers, an' dey sent me to wait on 'im. I wuz in camp wid 'im up here
by de old Fair Grounds. Atter we got there I seed old Colonel Farrabow,
he wuz Colonel o' dat regiment. We all lef' Raleigh on wagons, an' I
don't know whur we went atter we lef' Raleigh; I wuz las'. We got on de
train at Fayetteville, whur dey kept de rations. We went to a place
whur dere wuz a lot o' water. I don't know its name. We were dere about
three days when dey had a battle, an' den Colonel Farrabow come round
an' tole me marster wuz gone. He told us to go to the breas'works and
work. I stayed dere three years and eight months. Den dey had anudder
battle dar just befo' I lef', and de Yankees tuc' de place.
"I went to de Yankees den. Dey give me clothes, shoes, sumtin to eat,
and some money too. I worked for 'em while dey were camped in Raleigh.
I come wid' em back to Raleigh. Dey were camped on Newbern Avenue and
Tarboro Street and all out in Gatlin' Field in de place now called
Lincoln Park. De Yankees, when dey tuc' us, tole us ter come on wid'
em. Dey tole us to git all de folks's chickens and hogs. We wuz behind
'em, an' we had plenty. Dey made us steal an' take things fur 'em.
Wheeler's Calvary went before us, dat's why dey wuz so rich. Dey got
all de silver, an' we got de chickens and hogs.
"De Yankees skinned chickens and geese. Dey cut hogs an' cows up an'
den skinned 'em. Dey took jis' part of a cow sometime, jis' de hind
quarters an' lef' de res'. We went to one place, an' de white 'oman
only had one piece o' meat an' a big gang o' little chillun. I begged
de Yankees to let dat piece of meat alone, she wuz so po', but de
officer tole 'em to take it, an' dey took her las' piece o' meat.
"I stayed wid de Yankees two years arter de surrender. Dey carried me
to Florida when I lef' Raleigh. When I lef' 'em in Florida I went ter
Texas to min' cattle. I stayed in Texas seven years. Den Mr. Hardie
Pool from down here at Battle Bridge, Wake County come out dere. When
he started home I couldn't stan' it no longer, an' I jis tole him I wuz
goin' back home to North Carolina. No Sir, when I got home, I would
not go back. No mo mindin' cattle in Texas fur me. I married arter I
come back here. I married Polly Bancomb first, den a 'oman named Betsy
Maynard, and las', Emily Walton.
"When de surrender come marster wuz dead, but he lef' it so dat all his
slaves who had families got a piece o' lan'. Dere were four of 'em who
got lan'. He wuz dead do', but missus done like he had it fixed.
"We had white overseers. Old man John Robinson stayed there till de
surrender; den he lef'. We used to kill squirrels, turkeys, an' game
wid guns. When marster went off some o' us boys stole de guns, an' away
we went to de woods huntin'. Marster would come back drunk. He would
not know, an' he did not care nuther, about we huntin' game. We caught
possums an' coons at night wid dogs. Marsa an' missus wuz good to us.
"I heerd a heap uv talk about Abraham Lincoln, but I don't know nuthin'
bout him. I like Mr. Roosevelt all right. He is all right as fur as I
know of 'im. I digs fish worms fer a livin'; I can't work much. I jist
works awhile in the mornin'. I don't git anything from charity, de
county, ner de State. I don' have much. Dese are de bes' shoes I has.
Dey flinged dem away, an' I picked 'em up. Dey is jist rags uv shoes. I
shore need shoes."