MSGenWeb Library
County:  Claiborne
Title: Mississippi Slave Narratives from the WPA Records
Submitter:  MSGenWeb Slave Narrative Project
Notice:  This file may be downloaded for Personal Use Only, and may not otherwise be printed or copied without prior written consent of the submitter.
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 From the WPA Slave Narratives:

 Nancy Robinson age 86


"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."
 

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