ozart of Zebulon, (Wake Co.
N. C.) Age 92. May 12, 1937.

No mam, Mistress, I doan want ter ride in no automobile, thank you,
I'se done walked these three miles frum Zebulon an' walkin' is what has
kept me goin' all dese years.

Yes'm I'se a bachelor an' I wuz borned on June 11, 1845 in Person
County. My papa wuz named Ed an' my maw wuz named Sally. Dar wuz ten of
us youngins, Morris, Dallas, Stephen, Jerry, Florence, Polly, Lena,
Phillis, Caroline, an' me. Mr. Starling Oakley of Person County, near
Roxboro wuz my master an' as long as him an' ole mistress lived I went
back ter see dem.

He wuz right good to de good niggers an' kinder strick wid de bad ones.
Pusonly he ain't never have me whupped but two or three times. You's
hyard 'bout dese set down strikes lately, well dey ain't de fust ones.
Onct when I wuz four or five years old, too little to wuck in de fiel's,
my master sot me an' some more little chilluns ter wuck pullin' up weeds
roun' de house. Well, I makes a speech and I tells dem le's doan wuck
none so out we sprawls on de grass under de apple tree. Atter awhile ole
master found us dar, an' when he fin's dat I wuz de ring-leader he
gives me a little whuppin'.

Hit wuz a big plantation, round 1,200 acres o' land, I reckon, an' he
had 'bout seventy or eighty slaves to wuck de cotton, corn, tobacco an'
de wheat an' vege'bles. De big house wuz sumpin to look at, but de slave
cabins wuz jist log huts wid sand floors, and stick an' dirt chimneys.
We wuz 'lowed ter have a little patch o' garden stuff at de back but no
chickens ner pigs. De only way we had er' makin' money wuz by pickin'
berries an' sellin' 'em. We ain't had much time to do dat, case we
wucked frum sunup till sundown six days a week.

De master fed us as good as he knowed how, but it wuz mostly on bread,
meat, an' vege'bles.

I 'members seberal slave sales whar dey sold de pappy or de mammy 'way
frum de chillums an' dat wuz a sad time. Dey led dem up one at de time
an' axed dem questions an' dey warn't many what wuz chained, only de bad
ones, an' sometime when dey wuz travelin' it wuz necessary to chain a
new gang.

I'se seed niggers beat till da blood run, an' I'se seed plenty more wid
big scars, frum whuppin's but dey wuz de bad ones. You wuz whupped
'cordin ter de deed yo' done in dem days. A moderate whuppin' wuz
thirty-nine or forty lashes an' a real whuppin' wuz a even hundred; most
folks can't stand a real whuppin'.

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