From the WPA Slave
Narratives:
Liza Strickland
Liza Strickland, ex-slave, lives two miles north west of D'Lo, Mississippi on
a farm. She was born about 1847, was owned during slavery time by Mike
Strikland in Simpson County. She is about five feet, three inches in height
and weighs about one hundred and forty pounds. Her hair is snowy white and
kept pinned tight to her head in small twists. Her general coloring is a rich
dark brown. She enjoys very good health and is active. She wears loosly
fitting garments and a large square cut apron, while her head is almost always
tied with a large "head rag".
"I'se had a mighty hard time in my life. In de fust place my mars, when I was
a slave wont as kind as some ob 'em. He was what yo' might call a rough mars,
stern and strick an easy riled up. He livd in a big two story house wid mos'
ob de slaves cabins built close' 'round. Some ob 'em was at de back whar de
barn and stables was at, den some was at de side; a while a few was down by de
pasteurs, so de slaves a livin' in 'em could look ater de stock dat was a
runnin' loose in em. Mars Strickland wuked his slaves long hours and hard on
his two or three hundred acre plantation. De slaves was called out ob de
cabins early in de mornings and fed at Mars house an' sont to de fields to
wuk. De over seers kept em busy 'til de ring ob de big dinner bell at twelve
o'clock when dey went back to Mars' and et dey dinner. Den dey watered de
horses at a long waterin' trough - den hit was back to wuk 'til night. De
slaves was to tired to do any galavatin' 'round; hit was ter eat an ter bed,
'specially in de hardest wukin' part ob de year. Deir was a heap o' wuk 'sides
de field wuk, dependin' on de time an' season. Deir was hog killin's. Dey
would kill 'em by de dozens and der meat ter be dried by hickory smokes in de
smoke house, sausage ter be made an' lard. Eber thing us used had ter be made
at home; de soap, candles, cloth had ter be spun an' wove an' made inter
clo'se fer Mar's family and all de slaves, den quiltin' fer civer fer us all,
wood had ter be cut, hauled and stacked an' cannin' was to be done while other
things had ter be banked fer winter sich as sweet 'taters ter eat an' cane fer
seed, water had to be drawed an toted to de house an' cabins. Lasses makin'
time would las' a week or mo'. I could jest keep on namin' things mos' all day
sich as de big wash days an' all de ironin' an scrubbin' an' cleanin' up all
'round. De place was kept alive wid slaves gwine in and out busy wid deir
duties wid big fires a burnin' an chickens a cacklin' and cows a lowin' an
pots an' pots ob good food a cookin'. Hit was wuk, but good ole days too.
"I was waitin' maid in Mars' house. I jest done eber thing about a house in
general, jest whut eber I was sont ter do. I help keep up de house an' wait on
ole missus and and tended ter de chillun and waited on de table an' things lak
dat. Deir was a heap o' us ter do de wuk but deir was a heap o' wuk ter be
done.
"De fust thing us knowed dey started ter talkin' war ter free us. Us was told
all kinds ob things; hit kept a stirrin' an' de winter before it broke out, de
slaves begun ter predick dat war was a comin'. Den things begun to show 'nough
happen dat made us know hit was gwine ter be. One ob dese signs was de coldest
winter dat us had eber had. Hit went ter snowin' one day an' snowed an'
freezed fer a whole week wid out stoppin'. Icicles hung from de eves ob de
house slap to de ground. De limbs ob de trees got so heavy wid ice 'till dey
broke off, hit sounded lak guns a firin'. Hit was so cold 'till de pigeons
flew north. One day sich a bunch ob 'em flew over hit looked lak a big black
cloud a passin' over. Us knowed right den an deir dat was a bad sign an' a war
was sho' a comin', an' when hit did break out us won't surprised a tall an us
had ter stay scart ter death fer fo' long years. All over de whole country yo
could hear de guns a shootin' an' see soldiers a marchin'. But de mos'
turrible thing fer us was de cavalery men. Dey would come thro' and tear up
an' burn down eber thing an'
take off de res'. Hit was hard to keep soul and body together Hit was patchin'
up de destruction ob 'em an' tryin' ter keep 'nuf a growin' 'an ter gether ter
live on. But hit come to an end and us was freed in June. Mars' slaves had a
big crop a growin' in spite of all de draw back. He said he wouldn't turn us
out ter starve, dat de slaves had made de crop and ef'n dey would stay on
'till fall he would divide hit among'st us, which he done. After dat year de
slaves scattered an' wuked fer wages wid different ones an' others settled on
little farms, some home steaded tracts o' land an' got 'long kinda hard but
lived.
"My ma and pa settled wid Gil Gardner an' when I was eighteen or twenty years
old I got married an' raised a big family o' chillun an' when dey was about
grown my ole man died. I'se now livin' wid my son an' eber thing is well wid
me. I'se happy an a Christian an jist a waitin' to go."
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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