No. 2 [320050]
Worker: Mary Hicks
No. Words: 10,018
Subject: BEFORE AND AFTER THE WAR
Story Teller: MATTIE CURTIS
Editor: George L. Andrews

[HW: 8/31/37]

BEFORE AND AFTER THE WAR

An interview with Mattie Curtis, 98 years old, of Raleigh,
North Carolina, Route # 4.

I wus borned on de plantation of Mr. John Hayes in Orange County
ninety-eight years ago. Seberal of de chilluns had been sold 'fore de
speculator come an' buyed mammy, pappy an' we three chilluns. De
speculator wus named Bebus an' he lived in Henderson, but he meant to
sell us in de tobacco country.

We come through Raleigh an' de fust thing dat I 'members good wus goin'
through de paper mill on Crabtree. We traveled on ter Granville County
on de Granville Tobacco path till a preacher named Whitfield buyed us.
He lived near de Granville an' Franklin County line, on de Granville
side.

Preacher Whitfield, bein' a preacher, wus supposed to be good, but he
ain't half fed ner clothed his slaves an' he whupped 'em bad. I'se seen
him whup my mammy wid all de clothes offen her back. He'd buck her down
on a barrel an' beat de blood outen her. Dar wus some difference in his
beatin' from de neighbors. De folks round dar 'ud whup in de back yard,
but Marse Whitfield 'ud have de barrel carried in his parlor fer de
beatin'.

We ain't had no sociables, but we went to church on Sunday an' dey
preached to us dat we'd go ter hell alive iffen we sassed our white
folks.

Speakin' 'bout clothes, I went as naked as Yo' han' till I wus fourteen
years old. I wus naked like dat when my nature come to me. Marse
Whitfield ain't carin', but atter dat mammy tol' him dat I had ter have
clothes.

Marse Whitfield ain't never pay fer us so finally we wus sold to Mis'
Fanny Long in Franklin County. Dat 'oman wus a debil iffen dar eber wus
one. When I wus little I had picked up de fruit, fanned flies offen de
table wid a peafowl fan an' nussed de little slave chilluns. De las' two
or three years I had worked in de fiel' but at Mis' Long's I worked in
de backer factory.

Yes mam, she had a backer factory whar backer wus stemmed, rolled an'
packed in cases fer sellin'. Dey said dat she had got rich on sellin'
chawin' terbacker.

We wus at Mis' Long's when war wus declared, 'fore dat she had been
purty good, but she am a debil now. Her son am called ter de war an' he
won't go. Dey comes an' arrests him, den his mammy tries t