From the WPA Slave
Narratives:
Jane Louis
Foreword: Jane Louis, ex-slave lives at Bridge Port, Mississippi. She was born
in 1851 and was owned during slavery time by Turner Wilson. This old ex-slave
is a rich dusky brown with white hair, eyes of a peculiar color, a blacky
blue. She is extremely low, barely five feet and weighs about one hundred and
forty pounds. His health is very good. She and her husband farm on halves and
do fairly well.
"I don't know where my Marse come from but he bought my ma and pa from
Virginia to wuk on his plantation of a few hundred acres wid 'bout fifty
slaves. I guess I had a purty good time when I was a slave. I was a house maid
an' alwa's stayed at Marse's big house. I helped wait on ole Missus and tended
to de chillun. I didn't never played in de slave cabins as I alwa's stayed at
Marse's. I slept in de room wid de chillun mos' ob de time. I et in de
kitchen. I wuked long hours an' hard but was treated kind an' fed an' clos'ed
well. My close' was plain an' course, made from home spun cloth. I was alwa's
made to go clean an' fresh.
"De onliest time I was ever whipped was fer slippin' off to dances. I did
enjie gettin' off to 'em. Sometimes dey would give me a pass an' again dey
wouldn't. Den I would slip off an' sometimes get cotched up with. I'd tell 'em
I was gwine down to Ma's cabin. I had to git back in Marse's house, dat made
it easy fer 'em to cotch up wid me. Ole Missus done de whuppin'.
"On Sunday us went to church at de white folks meetin' house. At other times
us would git together an' have worship amongst our selves. Den us could sing
our songs and shout an' sho' 'nuf' enjie a good meetin'.
"When dey begin to talk o' war to free us we didn't know jis what to think as
we was tole fust one thing den another. All through de war days was hard times
fer everybody. We heard de guns firin' an' seed de soldiers a marchin' an'
things took way from de plantation, sich as de meat an' ho'ses an' time us was
freed deir won't nuthin' left fer nobody but a hard time. When us was turnt
loose after de war us didn't have since 'nuf to take care or look after our
selves. Ole Marse had alwa's done dat. Pa an' Ma didn't know which way to turn
an' Ole Marse he homestead 'em a place an' us moved on it.
"De bad days wont over wid. White folks an' colored was all up-sot, everything
had jes' been churned 'round. De Klu Klux Klan begin ter take a han' an' scare
us up.
"I married when I was a young gal an' raised six chillun, three girls an'
three boys. Dey is all married an' a farmin'.
"I likes to see my race a gittin' an' edification an' wid advantages. Dey is
havin' chances an' I hopes to see 'em rise higher an' higher, an' live better.
Interviewer: Unknown
Transcribed by Ann Allen Geoghegan
Mississippi Narratives
Prepared by
The Federal Writer’s Project of
The Works Progress Administration
For the State of Mississippi
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"If you teach them where they come from, they won't need as much help finding where they are going!" Cordelia Carothers " Aunt Dee" Geoghegan (1894-1987)
Project Manager: Ann
Allen Geoghegan State Coordinator Assistant State Coordinators and
Transcriptionists: Ann Allen Geoghegan, Debbie Leftwich, and Rose Diamond and Linda Durr Rudd Banner designed by: Melissa McCoy-Bell Unknown worker photograph provided by L. Stephen Bell Photography, and family photo albums of Karen Schweikle, Lucy Gray and Jens Burkhart. Copyright © 2005-2008 by MSGenWeb Project. All rights reserved. |
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