*Interview with Walter Calloway*
--_W.F. Jordan_
_OLE JOE HAD REAL 'LIGION_
Walter Calloway lives alone half a block off Avenue F, the thoroughfare
on the southside of Birmingham on which live many of the leaders in the
Negro life of the city. For his eighty-nine years he was apparently
vigorous except for temporary illness. A glance at the interior of his
cabin disclosed the fact that it was scrupulously neat and quite orderly
in arrangement, a characteristic of a great many ex-slaves. As he sat in
the sunshine on his tiny front porch, his greeting was: "Come in, white
folks. You ain't no doctor is you?"
To a negative reply, he explained as he continued, "Fo' de las' past
twenty-five years I been keepin' right on, wukkin' for de city in de
street department. 'Bout two mont's ago dis mis'ry attackted me an'
don't 'pear lak nothin' dem doctors gimme do no good. De preacher he
come to see me dis mornin' an' he say he know a white gemman doctor,
what he gwine to sen' him to see me. I sho' wants to git well ag'in
pow'ful bad, but mebby I done live long 'nuff an' my time 'bout come."
Quizzed about his age and antecedents, he began his story: "Well, sir,
Cap'n, I was born in Richmond, Virginny, in 1848. Befo' I was ole 'nuff
to 'member much, my mammy wid me an' my older brudder was sold to Marse
John Calloway at Snowdoun in Montgomery county, ten miles south of de
town of Montgomery.
"Marse John hab a big plantation an' lots of slaves. Dey treated us
purty good, but we hab to wuk hard. Time I was ten years ole I was
makin' a reg'lar han' 'hin' de plow. Oh, yassuh, Marse John good 'nough
to us an' we git plenty to eat, but he had a oberseer name Green Bush
what sho' whup us iffen we don't do to suit him. Yassuh, he' mighty
rough wid us but he didn't do de whuppin' hisse'f. He had a big black
boy name Mose, mean as de debil an' strong as a ox, and de oberseer let
him do all de whuppin'. An', man, he could sho' lay on dat rawhide lash.
He whupped a nigger gal 'bout thirteen years ole so hard she nearly die,
an' allus atterwa'ds she hab spells of fits or somp'n. Dat make Marse
John pow'ful mad, so he run dat oberseer off de place an' Mose didn' do
no mo' whuppin.
"Same time Marse John buy mammy an' us boys, he buy a black man name
Joe. He a preacher an' de marster let de slaves buil' a brush arbor in
de pecan grove ober in de big pastur', an' when de wedder warn't too
cold all de slaves was 'lowed to meet dar on Sunday 'fo' preachin'.
"Yassuh, ole Joe do purty good. I spec he had mo' 'ligion dan some of de
hifalutin' niggers 'tendin' to preach nowadays. De white folks chu'ch,
hit at Hope Hill ober on de stage road, an' sometimes dey fetch 'dere
preacher to de plantation to preach to de slaves. But dey 'druther heah
Joe.
"Nawsuh, we didn' git no schoolin' 'cep'in' befo' we got big 'nough to
wuk in de fiel' we go 'long to school wid de white chillun to take care
of 'em. Dey show us pictures an' tell us all dey kin, but it didn't
'mount to much.
[Illustration: _Walter Calloway, Birmingham, Alabama_]
"When de war started 'mos' all I know 'bout it was all de white mens go
to Montgomery an' jine de army. My brudder, he 'bout fifteen year ole,
so he go 'long wid de ration wagon to Montgomery 'mos' ebry week. One
day he come back from Montgomery an' he say, 'Hell done broke loose in
Gawgy.' He couldn't tell us much 'bout what done happen, but de slaves
dey get all 'cited 'caze dey didn' know what to 'spect. Purty soon we
fin' out dat some of de big mens call a meetin' at de capitol on Goat
Hill in Montgomery. Dey 'lected Mista Jeff Davis president an' done
busted de Nunited States wide open.
"Atter dat dar warn't much happen on de plantation 'cep'in' gangs of
so'jers passin' th'ough gwine off to de war. Den 'bout ebry so often a
squad of Confederate so'jers would come to de neighborhood gatherin' up
rations for Gin'ral Lee's army dey say. Dat make it purty hard on bofe
whites an' blacks, takin' off some of de bes' stock an' runnin' us low
on grub.
"But we wuk right on 'twell one day somebody sen' a runner sayin' de
Yankees comin'. Ole mistis tell me to hurry ober to Mrs. Freeman's an'
tell 'em Wilson's Yankee raiders was on de way an' comin' lak a
harrikin. I hop on a mule an' go jes' as fas' as I can make him trabel,
but befo' I git back dey done retch de plantation, smashin' things
comin' an' gwine.
"Dey broke in de smoke house an' tuk all de hams an' yuther rations, dey
fin' what dey want an' burn up de res'. Den dey ramshack de big house
lookin' fo' money an' jewelry an' raise Cain wid de wimmin folks 'caze
dey didn't fin' what dey wanted. Den dey leave dere ole hosses an' mules
an' take de bes' we got. Atter dey done dat, dey burn de smoke house, de
barns, de cribs an' some yuther prop'ty. Den dey skedaddle some place
else.
"I warn't up dar but I heern tell dey burn up piles an' piles of cotton
an' lots of steamboats at Montgomery an' lef' de ole town jes' 'bout
ruint'. Twarn't long atter dat dey tell us we'se free. But lawdy, Cap'n,
we ain't neber been what I calls free. 'Cose ole marster didn' own us no
mo', an' all de folks soon scatter all ober, but iffen dey all lak me
dey still hafter wuk jes' as hard, an some times hab less dan we useter
hab when we stay on Marse John's plantation.
"Well, Cap'n, dat's 'bout all I know. I feel dat misery comin' on me
now. Will you please, suh, gimme a lif' back in de house? I wisht dat
white gemman doctor come on iffen he comin'."