From the WPA Slave
Narratives:
Chaney Mack - age 74
Foreword: Chaney is 74 years old, five feet and four inches in height, weighs
125 pounds. She is what they call "Gingercake" in coloring. She dresses neatly
and spends a great deal of time visiting among the white folks she has known
these many years. The Negroes look up to her and she lords it over them in
church and civic matters. She is "authority" in her small circle of black
folk. She is no longer able to earn a living; is quite lame from a fall she
got when she "tried to jump a branch." She walks with a cane. She "doctors"
herself with herbs she gets from the woods, as taught her by her Indian
mother. When asked to tell something about her father's life in Africa, she
talked freely, as follows:
"Yes, my father was a full-blood African. He was about 18 years old when they
brought him over. He come from near Liberia. He said his mother's name was
"Chaney" and dats whar I gits my name. He said dar want no winter whar he come
from and if dey felt like it, dey could all go "start naked." He wore a slip
made of skins of wild animals, that come down to his knees. When ships would
land in Africa, the black folks would go down to watch them and sometimes they
would show them beads and purty things they carried on the ship. One day when
my daddy and his brother, Peter, was standing round looking de Boss-man axed
dem if dey wanted to work and handed dem a package to carry on de boat. When
dey got in there dey see so many curious things dey jest wander aroun'
looking, and before they know it the boat has pulled off from de landing and
dey is way out in de water and kaint hep demselves, so they jest brought 'em
on over to Georgy and sold 'em. There was a boat load of them --- all stolen.
Dey sold my daddy and uncle Peter to Mr. Holland. He was put up on a block and
Mr. Holland buyed him. Dat was in Dalton, Georgy.
"My daddy said in Africa, dey didn't live in houses. Dey jest lived in de
woods, and et nuts, and wild honey they found in trees. Dey killed wild
animals, skinned dem and et 'em, but made slips out of de skins to wear
demselves. Dey jest eat them animals raw. Dey didn't know nothin' bout
cooking. They even et snakes, but when they found 'em, they cut dere heads off
quick, fore dey got mad and "pizened" demselves.
"He said dey never heard about God, and when they died dey always bury dem at
night. Dey dig a hole in the groun' and den everybody would git him a torch
and march behind the two who was carrying the corpse to whar dey dug de grave.
Dey didn't know anything bout singing and God. Dat was de last of dem.
"They didn't make crops over there. Dey jest lived on things that growed on
tress, and killed wild animals. Ef dey got too hungry, dey would jest as soon
kill each other and eat 'em. Dey didn't know any better.
"When he come over here it went purty hard wid him having to wear clothes,
live in houses and work. So he run away ever chance he got and went to de
woods and hides hisself. When dey got too hot after him he'd come home. His
old Masta warnt mean to him and would ask him, "What made you run away, Tom?"
and he would tell him de driver beat him and he didn't want to be whupped. Den
old masta told de driver to quit whuppin' Tom.
"He made him self a fiddle outa pine bark and usta play fer us to dance. He
taught me to dance when I was little like dey did in Africa. Dey dance by
derselves or swing each other 'round. Dey didn't know nothing 'bout dese "huggin'
dances.
"I'd be settin' on my daddy's lap and he'd tell me all 'bout when he lived in
Africa. He usta play de fiddle and sing 'bout "Africa------Dat Good Ole
Land."------and den he would cry, when he thought of his mother back dere.
"My father wasn't much taller then me. After de war was over, dey carried boat
loads of black folks back to Africa from Georgy. In 1884, he got up one
mawning and walked round de house. My boy axed whar he was goin' and he said
"I be back directly"--and we ain't never seen him sence. We think he went with
Bishop Turner, an A. M. E. bishop of Atlanta, Ga. It was after the earthquake
in Charleston, S. C. He was carryin' dem over dere until the people of Georgy
made him quit. Dey wouldn't 'low his boats to land in Georgy. After Bishop
Jones come to our church to talk 'bout taking dem back to Africa, my daddy
walk off de next day and we aint seen or heard from him sence. He didn't come
home dat night, nor de nex'---we all got busy to hunt him. He was jest
homesick fer Africa--likes I get homesick fer Georgy. Ef I knowed whar any of
Dr Jarnigan's folks was, I'd go back now. Dey never would let me suffer fer
anything long as any of dem was living. I can't understand dese
Mississippi niggers, always talking how mean dere white folks was to dem.
Sometimes I think dey musta got whut was comin' to dem. We was good to our
white folks and dey was good to us. We never got no whuppings like dey say dey
did.
"My mother was a pureblood Indian. She was born near dat "Lookout Mountain" up
in Tennessee, on a river, in a log hut. Dey lived in houses and her father was
de Indian chief. His name was "Red Bird." Dey belong to de Choctaw tribe. De
white people was trying to drive dem out and in an uprising wid de whites, all
my mothers' folks was killed but her. The white folks took her and give her to
Dr. Jernigan.
"She was big enough to know they was fighting and trying to drive 'em out. Her
mother's name was "Marthy." She remembers when dey usta have "Green Corn
Dances." Dey cooked all dere stuff together in a big pot, green corn, butter
beans, and rabbit or any other kind of animal dey killed. After dey all eat
dey have a big dance round de pot and call it de "Green Corn Dance." Dey used
to make dere own whiskey out of corn and oats. Dey'd walk 50 mile to get a
drink of whiskey. Dey sho' loved dere whiskey. Dey had holler canes what dey
toted dere whiskey in. They lived in log huts, they cooked all their stuff
together in big pots. They believed in de "Big Spirit."
"Some of dem was wild like Africans and dey didn't blieve in God, but my
mother's folks did. She would git mad at us sometime, and when she did we
would all "step light." I can see her now wid her long straight hair in two
plaits hanging down her back, black as a crow. She'd look at us and say: "Ye
pore sinner, fell from de rock, De day de moon went down in blood." Den she
was going to whup somebody tell she see blood. She whupped my daddy jest the
same as de rest of us. He was short--- no taller than me, and she was seven
foot (?) tall. Dey call her "Big Sarah", and nobody fooled wid her. She walk
straight and hold her head high. All of de other niggers was afraid of her.
She usta whistle "Fisher's Horn Pipe." Dat was an Indian song dey sung when
dey was mad. I never could "ketch" it. When she say good mawning to anybody,
she say: "Com-missa---va." Den de udder one would answer, "I'm all right."
Effen someone come up to de door to listen, she say: "Space." Dat mean "Go
on." When she call us to breakfast, she say: "Spece-mena." Dat would mean,
"Come git something to eat." Then she would hand us a big wooden tray, wid
wooden spoons, and all de somethin' to eat would be in dat tray. We never know
nothing' bout going to de table to eat wid de grown folks.
"When de Yankees come, I was playin' in de yard, makin' mud pies, wid de
Doctor's little girl---name "Marthy." We heered a racket down de road dat
went: "Shacky--shacky--shacky." We looked down dat way and saw somthing blue
coming wid something shining. We run in de house and tole 'em "De world has
turn blue, and was shinin'." My mother come to de door and hung up a white
strip of cloth. Dat meant "peace." Old Masta was in de room and he run up dat
ladder to de loft and drapt dat door down quick. My mother grabbed de ladder
and broke it up 'fore dem Yankees could git dar and throwed it in de corner
fer fire wood. Den dey rode up on dere hosses, got down and come in de house.
Dey was all dressed in blue, wid brass buttons and carried swords and guns. It
look lak dere was a whole regiment of 'em. Dey axed my Mama who she 'blong to.
She tole 'em she don't 'blong to nobody but herself. Dat she lived dere wid
Dr. Jernigan's famly and took keer of his chillun. Den dey say? "What you doin'
wid dat white baby and dat black baby." She say: "Dis white chile is my ole
Mis's baby." My old Mis' die when dis baby was born." Dis black baby is mine
and Tom's." Den dey axed her whar de money was. She tole 'em dey didn't have
no money---dey had jest a livin. Den she cook up some hams and hoecakes fer
dem. Dey didn't have no cook stoves dem days. Dey cooked in big fire places,
in pots hung on hooks. Dey could bake cakes and chickens and hams in dem pots,
too. My Mama was a good cook. I was a "seven-months" baby, and was a sickly
chile. Dey put me on a terbacco pipe when I was little and always let me have
de chicken and turkey backs. Dats all I eat of dem now.
Dey used to cook bread in de ashes and call it "Ash cake." De way dey cooked
it was to: "make de dough outa meal or flour and wrop it up in collard leaves,
den lay it on de coals and kivver wid ashes. When it had cooked done, it come
out clean as if it had a been cooked in a pan. Dat was good eatin." Dey made
hoe-cakes, Johnnie cakes, or any kind of bread dat way.
De songs my mother used to sing was "Over Jordan River, I'm Bound to Cross"
and "Swing Low Sweet Chariot." When she sing us to sleep she'd sing: "Bye ye
Baby Buntin'--Daddy's gone a huntin'---To git a little Rabbit Skin, To Wrop de
Baby Buntin' in."
She usta say "Come on--papoo" and den she'd put us in a basket and tote us on
her shoulder.
Before de war was over we all 'blong to de Methodist Church wid de white
folks. We'd set on the bench wid our white folks. Now we b'longs to the
African Methodist Church whut was started by an African Methodist preacher.
All my folks lived to be old 'cept de one de slate mine caved in on. Dat was
my brother Mose. My mother lived to be 112, and den she jest drap dead from
joy when dey tole her dat Rachel, my sister what we hadn't seen in a long
time, was still alive. Den my brother Jim lived to be 90. I members how dey
usta git married. Dey called it "Jumpin' Over De Broom." When a man wanted to
git married he tole his boss and sometimes his boss would talk to de woman's
boss and dey would agree to let dem git married. Sometimes dey would sell one
to de odder so's dey could be together, er if they didn't wanta sell dey jest
"stipulated" when dey could visit dere women. It was mostly on Saddy nights,
and sometimes dey would let dem stay over Sunday. When dey got ready to marry
de old
Masta would say, "Now Git ready to Jump de Broom." De Old Masta would hold de
broom. Dey would hold hands and jump dis way and den back again. Den Old Masta
would say: "You is Married." Dat de way the cullud folks got married but de
Indians was different, and dis is de way dey done:
"De Chief would marry dem. He was always standing, and dey would stand before
him and hold hands. The Chief would say:
"He is black; she is yaller;
Made out of beeswax, and no taller,
Salute your bride, you ugly feller!" (or devil)
Dat was how my mother say de Indians married when she was a little girl in
Tennessee.
When my mother got to thinking about her folks sometime, she'd sit down and
sing: "Swing Low Sweet Chariot, Comin' to Carry Me Back Home." Den we'd all
gether round her cause we'd know she was thinkin' bout her folks back dere.
She would cry and we would all cry together. Nobody fooled wid my mother.
She'd grab a man by de collar, throw him down and set on him. Dat gal of mine
is jest like her. Nobody fools round Rachel. Her daddy was Monroe Johnson and
he was part Indian too. My mother loved to wear red. She dressed like a Gipsy,
and always had a long red cape.
Granddaughter of the old Indian Chief, Red Bird, of Tennessee, and daughter of
the black man, Tom, from the jungles of Africa--Chanie Mack, talks
interestingly of the earthquake in Charleston, S. C. in 1884. She says her
baby was two weeks old and she dates most of her stories since the war from
the times her children were born.
"It was in August, and de year President Harrison was elected. I members de
song dey sung when dey thought Cleveland had been elected instead of Harrison.
I was livin' in Greensboro, AL after Cleveland's first time as president, and
dey was running him fer de second term 'gainst Harrison. De day of the
'lection, all Greensboro, both white and black, went solid fer Cleveland. Dat
night dey burned all de coffins in town dey could fin' and say dey was burning
Harrison in 'em. Den dey marched up and down de street singing:
"Cleveland got elected,
Which was more dan we expected,
Climbin' up de golden stairs.
Hear dem bells a ringing, Sweet I do declare,
Hear dem darkies singing, climbing up de golden stairs,
"Harrison was at de back step,
Shining up de shoes,
Cleveland in de big house,
Reading up de news,
Climbing up de golden stairs.
Hear dem bells a-ringing, sweet I do declare,
Hear dem darkies singing, "Climbin' up de golden Stairs."
I went up town next day and axed Mr. Jeffrey, an old white gentleman, "who
went in?" He say: "Harrison." But Cleveland went in next time. All de niggers
was fer him same as de whites.
Dat was de same year of de Charleston earthquake. I members how de dishes fell
out-a de shelves and all de niggers thought de worl' was comin' to an end."
Going back to her childhood, Chanie tells of how her mother would gather her
children around the fireside and talk to them about things she had seen in her
life and of things that would happen in their lives that she would not live to
see.
"She ust-a tell us about when de stars fall in 1813. She saw de Comet-star
den--a star wid a long tail. She tole us dat dar would be another war, and
we'd see another comet. She said she could read dem stars. Den she said we
would live to see waggins run widout horses, and every nation would go back to
dere own home by de end of time, and at de end of de nex' war dat de bottom
rail would come to de top--and dat dere would be war and rumors of war;
kinfolks agin kinfolks; daughter agin mother, sons agin fathers. She say she
see all dem things in de future through de stars. We chillun would set round
de fire and lissen to her talk. She lived to be 112 years old. She ust-a go
out at night and look up at de stars and den come back and tell us what was
gona happen."
"My father was stolen from the jungles of Africa and brought on a slave ship
to Georgia where he was sold on the block to Mr. Joe Holland, who owned a
plantation near Dalton, Ga. He said in Africa dey didn't wear clothes, ceptin'
a shirt made out-a skins of wild animals dat dey kill and eat raw. Dey saved
de hides and made demselves shirts. His old masta was good to him. He learned
to play de fiddle and would play for dances. One of his favorite tunes he used
to play was: "Run nigger, run, de pat-a-roller'll git you; Dat nigger run, dat
nigger flew, dat nigger tore his shirt in two." He was low and short---'bout
five foot, but my mama was 7 foot tall and weighed 390 pounds. Dey called her
"Big Sarah," and after she got to be an old woman, dey called her "Grandma
Sarah"---cause she was a midwife. She made her own medicine from herbs, and
she taught me to make medicines. Some of de things she used in her medicines
was: Red shank, cherry bark, dog-wood bark, prickly-ash roots, bamboo roots,
and blackhaw roots.
Although Chanie is almost seventy-five years old, she is going to take her
first ride in an airplane next Sunday. Johnny Robinson, the black boy who
distinguished himself in Ethiopia as head of Emperor Haile Selassi's Imperial
flying corps, is an old neighbor of Chanie's, and he has promised to take her
up in his plane for a ride over the city. She is looking forward to that event
with much pleasure.
Chanie is a cheerful old soul; loves and trusts her "white friends"
implicitly. She says she'll never want for bread long as any of them are
living.
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)
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