RECONNOITERING.
When I returned from Tuskegee on the 19th of May, 1893, I found my old
aunt, her daughter and her grandson still living in the one-room log
cabin in which I had left them four and a half years before. Their
condition was much the same as when I left them. My first work was to
build another end, a log pen, to the one room cabin; this gave us two
rooms, something we never had before. As it was too late for me to pitch
a crop, I worked with them until their crop was clean of weeds and then
I went from farm to farm in the neighborhood, helping all the farmers
that I could. The only pay I received was three meals a day wherever I
worked. I usually worked from one to three days on each farm. All the
while I was making a close study of the people's condition. I continued
working in this way until I was convinced that I had a thorough
knowledge of their condition. I then ventured to carry the investigation
into other sections of Wilcox County and the adjoining counties. I
visited most of the places in the counties of Monroe, Butler, Dallas and
Lowndes. These constitute most of the Black Belt counties of the State.
I made the entire journey on foot.
It was a bright beautiful morning in July when I started from my home,
a log cabin. More than two hundred Negroes were in the nearby fields
plowing corn, hoeing cotton and singing those beautiful songs often
referred to as plantation melodies: "I am going to roll in my Jesus'
arms," "O, Freedom," and "Before I'd be a Slave, I'd be carried to my
Grave." With the beautiful fields of corn and cotton outstretched before
me, and the shimmering brook like a silver thread twining its way
through the golden meadows, and then through verdant fields, giving
water to thousands of creatures as it passed, I felt that the earth was
truly clothed in His beauty and the fulness of His glory.
But I had scarcely gone beyond the limits of the field when I came to a
thick undergrowth of pines. Here we saw old pieces of timber and two
posts. "This marks the old cotton-gin house," said Uncle Jim, my
companion, and then his countenance grew sad; after a sigh, he said: "I
have seen many a Negro whipped within an inch of his life at these
posts. I have seen them whipped so badly that they had to be carried
away in wagons. Many never did recover."
From this our road led first up-hill, then down, and finally through a
stretch of woods until we reached Carlowville. This was once the most
aristocratic village of the Southern part of Dallas County. Perhaps no
one who owned less than a hundred slaves was able to secure a home
within its borders. Here still are to be seen stately mansions and among
the names of the owners are those of Lyde, Lee, Wrumph, Bibb, Youngblood
and Reynolds. Many of these mansions have been partly rebuilt and
remodeled to conform to modern styles of architecture, while others
have been deserted and are now fast decaying. Usually the original
families have sold out or many have died out.
In Carlowville stands the largest white church in Dallas or Wilcox
Counties. It has a seating capacity of 1,000, excluding the balcony,
which during slavery was used exclusively for the Negroes of the
families attending.
Our stay in Carlowville was necessarily short, as the evening sun was
low and the nearest place for lodging was two miles ahead. Before
reaching this place we came to a large one-room log cabin, 30 by 36 feet
on the road-side, with a double door and three holes for windows cut in
the sides. There was no chimney nor anything to show that the room could
be heated in cold weather. This was the Hopewell Baptist Church. Here
five hundred members congregated one Sunday in each month and spent the
entire day in eating, shouting, and praising God for His goodness toward
the children of men. Here also the three months' school was taught
during the winter. A few hundred yards beyond this church brought us to
the home of a Deacon Jones. He was living in the house occupied by the
overseer of the plantation during slavery. It was customary for Deacon
Jones to care for strangers who chanced to come into the community,
especially for the preachers and teachers. So here we found rest. At
supper Deacon Jones told of the many preachers he had entertained and
their fondness for chicken.
After supper I spent some time in trying to find out the real condition
of the people in this section. Mr. Jones told me how for ten years he
had been trying to buy some land, and had been kept from it more than
once, but that he was still hopeful of getting the right deeds for the
land for which he had paid. He also told of many families who had
recently moved into this community. These newcomers had made a good
start for the year and had promising crops, but they were compelled to
mortgage their growing crops in order to get "advances" for the year.
When asked of the schools, he said that there were more than five
hundred children of school age in his township, but not more than two
hundred of these had attended school the previous winter, and most of
these for a period not longer than six weeks. He also said that the
people were very indifferent as to the necessity of schoolhouses and
churches. Quite a few who cleared a little money the previous year had
spent it all in buying whiskey, in gambling, in buying cheap jewelry,
and for other useless articles. After spending two hours in such talk, I
retired for the evening. Thus ended the first day of my search for
first-hand information.
Instead of going farther northward, we turned our course westward for
the town of Tilden, which is only eight miles west of Snow Hill. The
road from Carlowville to Tilden is somewhat hilly, but a very pleasant
one, and for miles the large oak trees formed an almost perfect arch.
On reaching Tilden we learned that there would be a union meeting of two
churches that night. I decided that this would give me an opportunity to
study the religious life of these people for myself. The members of
churches number one and number two assembled at their respective places
at eight o'clock. The members of church number two had a short praise
service and formed a line of procession to march to church number one.
All the women of the congregation had their heads bound in pieces of
white cloth, and they sang peculiar songs as they marched. When the
members of church number two were within a few hundred yards of the
church number one, the singing then alternated, and finally, when the
members of church number two came to church number one, they marched
around this church three times before entering it.
After entering the church, six sermons were preached to the two
congregations by six different ministers, and at least three of these
could not read a word in the Bible. Each minister occupied at least one
hour. Their texts were as often taken from Webster's blue-back speller
as from the Bible, and sometimes this would be held upside down. It was
about two o'clock in the morning when the services were concluded. Here,
again, we found no school-houses, and the three months' school had been
taught in one of the little churches.
The next day we started for Camden, a distance of sixteen miles. This
section between Tilden and Camden is perhaps the most fertile section of
land in the State of Alabama. Taking a southwest course from Tilden, I
crossed into Wilcox County again, where I saw acres of corn and miles of
cotton, all being cultivated by Negroes.
The evening was far advanced when we reached Camden, but having been
there before, we had no difficulty in securing lodging. Camden is the
seat of Wilcox County, and has a population of about three thousand. The
most costly buildings of the town were the courthouse and jail, and
these occupied the most conspicuous places. Here great crowds of Negroes
would gather on Saturdays to spend their earnings of the week for a fine
breakfast or dinner on the following Sunday, or for useless
trivialities.
On Saturday evenings, on the roads leading to and from Camden, as from
other towns, could be seen groups of Negroes gambling here and there,
and buying and selling whiskey. As the county had voted against
licensing whiskey-selling, this was a violation of the law, and often
the commission merchant, a Negro, was imprisoned for the offense, while
those who supplied him went free.
In Camden I found one Negro school-house; this was a box-like cottage,
20 by 16 feet, and was supposed to seat more than one hundred students.
This school, like those taught in the churches, was opened only three
months in the year.
After a two days' stay in Camden, I next visited Miller's Ferry on the
Alabama River, twelve miles west of Camden. The road from Camden is one
of the best roads in the State, and for miles and miles one could see
nothing but cotton and corn.
At Miller's Ferry a Negro school-house of ample proportions had been
built on Judge Henderson's plantation. Here the school ran several
months in the year, and the colored people in the community were
prosperous and showed a remarkable degree of intelligence. Their church
was as attractive as their school-house.
Judge Henderson was for twelve years Probate Judge of Wilcox County. He
proved to be one of the best judges this county has ever had, and even
unto this day he is admired by all, both white and black, rich and poor,
for his honesty, integrity, and high sense of justice.
From Judge Henderson's place we traveled southward to Rockwest, a
distance of more than fifteen miles. During this journey hundreds of
Negroes were seen at work in the corn and cotton fields. These people
were almost wholly ignorant, as they had neither schools nor teachers,
and their ministers were almost wholly illiterate. At Rockwest I found a
very intelligent colored man, Mr. Darrington, who had attended school at
Selma for a few years. He owned his home and ran a small grocery. He
told of the hardships with which he had to contend in building up his
business, and of the almost hopeless condition of the Negroes about
there. He said that they usually made money each year, but that they did
not know how to keep it. The merchants would induce them to buy buggies,
machines, clocks, etc., but would never encourage them to buy homes. We
were very much pleased with the reception which Mr. Darrington gave us,
and felt very much like putting into practice our State motto, "Here We
Rest," at his home, but our objective point for the day was Fatama,
sixteen miles away.
[Illustration: UNCLE CHARLES LEE AND HIS HOME IN THE BLACK BELT]
On our journey that afternoon we saw hundreds of Negro one-room log
cabins. Some of these were located in the dense swamps and some on the
hills, while others were miles away from the public road. Most of these
people had never seen a locomotive.
We reached Fatama about seven o'clock that night, and here for the first
time we were compelled to divide our crowd in order to get a night's
lodging. Each of us had to spend the night in a one-room cabin. It was my
privilege to spend the night with Uncle Jake, a jovial old man, a local
celebrity. After telling him of our weary journey, he immediately made
preparation for me to retire. This was done by cutting off my bed from
the remainder of the cabin by hanging up a sheet on a screen. While
somewhat inconvenient, my rest that night was pleasant, and the next
morning found me very much refreshed and ready for another day's
journey. Our company assembled at Uncle Jake's for breakfast, after
which we started for Pineapple.
We found the condition of the Negroes between Fatama and Pineapple much
the same as that of those we had seen the previous day. No school-house
was to be seen, but occasionally we would see a church at the
cross-roads. We reached Pineapple late in the afternoon.
From Pineapple we went to Greenville, and from Greenville to Fort
Deposit, and from Fort Deposit we returned to Snow Hill, after having
traveled a distance of 157 miles and visiting four counties.
In three of these counties there was a colored population of 42,810
between the ages of five and twenty years, and a white population of
7,608 of the same ages. The Negro school population of Wilcox and the
seven adjoining counties was 11,623. Speaking of public schools in the
sense that educators use the term, the colored people in this section
had none. Of course, there were so-called public schools here and there,
running from three to five months in the year and paying the teachers
from $7.50 to $18 per month.
Our trip through this section revealed the following facts: (1) That
while many opportunities were denied our people, they abused many
privileges; (2) that there was a colored population, in this section
visited, of more than 200,000 and a school population of 85,499; (3)
that the people were ignorant and superstitious; (4) that the teachers
and preachers for the most part, were of the same condition; (5) that
there were no public or private libraries and reading-rooms to which
they had access; (6) that, strictly speaking, there were no public
schools and only one private one. Now, what can be expected of any
people in such a condition? Can the blind lead the blind? They could not
in the days of old, and it is not likely that they can now.