hen de crop wus housed in de
fall marster give us part of all we made. We come to Raleigh on a ole
steer cart to git our crackers an' meat dat wus our 'Lowance. We stayed
at marster's till father died. I married there. We finally moved to the
Page place 'bout eleven miles north of Raleigh. We been farmin' wid de
white folks eber since, till we got so we couldn't work.

"I married Buck Sorrell since de surrender. We had four boys an' two
girls, six children in all. Dey are all dead, 'cept one, her name is
Bettie. She works at Dr. Rogers'.

"Dr Young looked after us when we wus sick.

"Dere wus one thing dey wouldn't allow, dat wus books an' papers. I
can't read an' write. I heard talk of Abraham Lincoln comin' through
when talk of de war come 'bout. Dey met, him an' Jeff Davis, in South
Carolina. Lincoln said, 'Jeff Davis, let dem niggers go free.' Jeff
Davis tole him you can't make us give up our property.' Den de war
started.

"A lot of de niggers in slavery time wurked so hard dey said dey hated
to see de sun rise in de mornin'. Slavery wus a bad thing, 'cause some
white folks didn't treat dere niggers right."

LE

N.C. District: No. 2
Worker: Mary Hicks
No. Words: 320
Subject: A SLAVERY STORY
Story Teller: CHANEY SPELL
Editor: George L. Andrews

CHANEY SPELL

An interview with Chaney Spell, 101 years old, Contena Heights, Wilson,
North Carolina.

"I really doan know who my first marster wus, case I has been sold an'
hired so much since den. I reckin dat I wus borned in New Hanover er
Beaufort County an' I wus sold fust time in my mammy's arms. We wus
sold ter a man in Carteret County and from dar de speculators took me
ter Franklin County. I wus sold ter a Mr. McKee an' dat's de fust thing
dat I 'members.

"I doan 'member anything 'bout maw 'cept dat dey called her Sal an' dat
she died years an' years ago. I reckin dat I once had a pappy, but I
ain't neber seed him.

"Marster McKee wus mean to us, an' we ain't had nothin' to eat nor wear
half of de time. We wus beat fer ever' little thing. He owned I reckin
two er three hundret slaves an' he had four overseers. De overseers wus
mean an' dey often beat slaves ter death.

"I worked in de house, sometime 'round de table, but I ain't got so
much to eat.

"When word come dat we wus to be sold I wus glad as I could be. Dey
tol' me dat de marster has gambled away his money an' lost ever'thing
but a few slave