she lets me
go fer de week-en'. Mammy laughs Sunday when I says somethin' 'bout
goin' back. Naw, I stayed on wid my mammy, an' I ain't seed Mis' Allen
no mo'.

AC

District: No. 2 [320151]
No. Words: 733
Worker: Mary A. Hicks
Subject: EX-SLAVE STORY
Story Teller: Charlie Barbour
Editor: Daisy Bailey Waitt

[TR: Date Stamp "JUN 7 1937"]

[HW: A (circled)]

EX-SLAVE STORY

An interview on May 20, 1937 with Charlie Barbour, 86 of Smithfield, N. C.
Johnston County.

I belonged ter Mr. Bob Lumsford hyar in Smithfield from de time of my
birth. My mammy wuz named Candice an' my pappy's name wuz Seth. My
brothers wuz Rufus, William an' George, an' my sisters wuz Mary an'
Laura.

I 'minds me of de days when as a youngin' [HW correction: youngun'] I
played marbles an' hide an' seek. Dar wuzn't many games den, case nobody
ain't had no time fer 'em. De grown folkses had dances an' sometimes
co'n shuckin's, an' de little niggers patted dere feets at de dances an'
dey he'p ter shuck de co'n. At Christmas we had a big dinner, an' from
den through New Year's Day we feast, an' we dance, an' we sing. De fust
one what said Christmas gift ter anybody else got a gif', so of cou'se
we all try ter ketch de marster.

On de night 'fore de first day of Jinuary we had a dance what lasts all
night. At midnight when de New Year comes in marster makes a speech an'
we is happy dat he thanks us fer our year's wuck an' says dat we is
good, smart slaves.

Marster wucked his niggers from daylight till dark, an' his thirteen
grown slaves had ter ten' 'bout three hundred acres o' land. Course dey
mostly planted co'n, peas an' vege'ables.

I can 'member, do' I wuz small, dat de slaves wuz whupped fer
disobeyin' an' I can think of seberal dat I got. I wuz doin' housewuck
at de time an' one of de silber knives got misplaced. Dey 'cused me of
misplacin' it on purpose, so I got de wust beatin' dat I eber had. I wuz
beat den till de hide wuz busted hyar an' dar.

We little ones had some time ter go swimmin' an' we did; we also
fished, an' at night we hunted de possum an' de coon sometimes. Ole
Uncle Jeems had some houn's what would run possums or coons an' he uster
take we boys 'long wid him.

I 'members onct de houn's struck a trail an' dey tree de coon. Uncle
Jeems sen's Joe, who wuz bigger den I wuz, up de tree ter ketch de coon
an' he warns him dat coons am fightin' fellers. Joe doan