Slave Narratives

Slave Narratives(Transcribed exactly as written by the interviewer in the 1930's)

Found in the National Archives
contributed by Ann Geoghegan

Gabe Emanuel 

Gabe Emanuel is the blackest of Negroes. He is stooped and wobbly from his eighty-five years and weighs about one hundred and thirty-five pounds. His speech is somewhat hindered by an unbelievable amount of tobacco rolled to one side of his mouth. He lives in the Negro quarters of Port Gibson. Like most ex-slaves he has the courtesy and the gentleness of a southern gentleman.

"Lawsy! Dem slav'ry days done been s'long ago I jus' 'member a few things dat happen den. But I's sho' mighty pleased to relate dat what I recollec'.

"I was de house boy on old judge Stamps' plantation. He lived 'bout nine miles east o' Port Gibson an' he was a mighty well-to-do gent'man in dem days. He owned 'bout 500 or 600 Niggers. He made plenty o' money out o' his fiel's. Dem Niggers worked for dey keep. I 'clare, dey sho' did.
"Us 'ud dike out in spick an' span clean clothes come Sund'ys. Ever'body wore homespun clo'es den. De mistis an' de res' o' de ladies in de Big House made mos' of 'em. De cullud wimmins wore some kin' o' dress wid white aprons an' de mens wore overalls an' homespun pants an' shirts. Course, all de time us gits han'-me-downs from de folks in de Big House. Us what was a-servin' in de Big House wore de marster's old dress suits. Now, dat was somep'n'! Mos' o' de time dey didn' fit - maybe de pants hung a little loose an' de tails o' de coat hung a little long. Me bein' de house boy, I used to look mighty sprucy when I put on my frock tail.

"De mistis used to teach us de Bible on Sund'ys an' us always had Sund'y school. Us what lived in de Big House an' even some o' de fiel' han's was taught to read an' write by de white folks.
"De fiel' han's sho' had a time wid dat men, Duncan. He was de overseer man out at de plantation. Why, he'd have dem poor Niggers so dey didn' know if dey was gwine in circles or what.

"One day I was out in de quarters when he brung back old man Joe from runnin' away. Old Joe was always a-runnin' away an' dat man Duncan put his houn' dogs on 'im an' brung 'im back. Dis time I's speakin' 'bout Marster Duncan put his han' on old Joe's shoulder an' look him in de eye sorrowful-lak. 'Joe', he say, 'I's sho' pow'ful tired o' huntin' you. I'spect I's gwina have to git de marster to sell you some'r's else. Another marster gwina whup you in de groun' if he ketch you runnin' 'way lak dis. I's sho sad for you if you gits sol' away. Us gwina miss you 'roun' dis plantation.' After dat old Joe stayed close in an' dey warnt no more trouble out o' him.
"Dat big white man called Duncan, he seen dat de Niggers b'have deyse'ves right. Dey called him de 'Boss Man.' He always carried a big whup an' when dem Niggers got sassy, dey got de whup 'crost dey hides.

 "Lawsy! I's recallin' de time when de big old houn' dog what fin' de run-away Niggers done die wid fits. Dat man Duncan, he say us gwina hol' fun'al rites over dat dog. He say us Niggers might better be's pow'ful sad when us come to dat fun'al. An' dem Niggers was sad over de death o' dat poor old dog what had chased 'em all over de country. Dey all stan' 'roun' a-weepin' an' a-mournin'. Ever' now an' den dey'd put water on dey eyes an' play lak dey was a-weepin' bitter, bitter tears. 'Poor old dog, she done died down dead an' can't kotch us no more. Poor old dog. Amen! De Lawd have mercy!'

Nancy Robinson

"I was' bawn in '51 an' I belonged to Miss Betsy Cottingham. Yes'sum I was' Miss Betsy's own servant when we lived down in Claiborne County.

"My mama's name was' Amy Willis and she's buried right out yonder at Ole Crystal Springs in de white fokes' cemetery long wid de Willises. She had three chillun, there was Harriet, Massie an me.

"We was hired out sometimes an' then we come to live out at de' ole Trotter place bout mile an a half from heah.

"No'm I never seed any slaves chained or sold an we lived in a lil' ole house bout size of this one I'se in now. Now the Trotter house was big an made out o' logs, hit was right fine.
"Us lil' collud' chillun' played right long wid de lil white chillun. All us growed up together. You know Mr. Byron Patton and Mrs. Emma Cook, all us came up together.

"I was a house gal, I hep'd make up de beds, an hep'd wid de' cookin' an jes played roun'.
"I remember when the Confederate war was, yessum, I carried many a basket all fixed up to de sojiers.

"No'mam, they waren't de yankee sojiers an I remember singin' bout 'Lincoln an his Northern troops will never whup de South' but I never seen Lincoln.

"We got whippin's sometimes, reckin' no more'n we needed tho.

"I was right glad to be free alright an' I lived on out there fer' a spell after I was free. "Lots a time I wanna go back out an see de ole place."