enton County and he brought me
from his home in Richmond County, Georgia to Warrenton and then from
Warrenton to Raleigh. I had two brothers and thirteen sisters. I did
general house work, and helped raise children during slavery, and right
after de war. Then you had to depend on yourself to do for children. You
had to doctor and care for them yourself. You just had to depend on
yourself.

Dey had 320 acres o' cleared fields in Georgia and then de rice fields,
I just don't know how many acres. I have seen jails for slaves. Dey had
a basement for a jail in Georgia and a guard at de holes in it.

No, No! you better not be caught tryin' to do somethin' wid a book. Dey
would teach you wid a stick or switch. De slaves had secret prayer
meetin's wid pots turned down to kill de soun' o' de singin'. We sang a
song, 'I am glad salvation's free.' Once dey heard us, nex' mornin' dey
took us and tore our backs to pieces. Dey would say, 'Are you free? What
were you singin' about freedom?' While de niggers were bein' whupped
they said, 'Pray, marster, pray.'

The doctor came to see us sometimes when we were sick, but not after.
People just had to do their own doctorin'. Sometimes a man would take
his patient, and sit by de road where de doctor travelled, and when he
come along he would see him. De doctor rode in a sully drawn by a horse.
He had a route, one doctor to two territories.

When de white folks were preparing to go to de war they had big dinners
and speakin'. Dey tole what dey were goin' to do to Sherman and Grant. A
lot of such men as Grant and Sherman and Lincoln came through de South
in rags and were at some o' dese meetings, an' et de dinners. When de
white folks foun' it out, dere wus some sick folks. Sometimes we got two
days Christmas and two days July. When de nigger wus freed dey didn't
know where to go and what to do. It wus hard, but it has been hard
since. From what de white folks, marster and missus tole us we thought
Lincoln wus terrible. By what mother and father tole me I thought he wus
all right. I think Roosevelt wus put in by God to do the right things.

EH

N. C. District: No. 2 [320012]
Worker: Mary A. Hicks
No. Words: 367
Subject: BLOUNT BAKER
Person Interviewed: Blount Baker
Editor: G. L. Andrews

[TR: Date Stamp "SEP 10 1937"]

BLOUNT BAKER

An interview with Blount Baker, 106 Spruce Street, Wilson, North
Carolina.