dwin Driskell

THE EXPERIENCES OF AN EX-SLAVE

Following is the account of slavery as told by Mr. Isaac Green, who
spent a part of his childhood as a slave.

"I wus born in Greene County, Georgia, eighty-one years ago. My marster
wus named Colonel Willis. He wus a rich man an' he had a whole lots o'
slaves--'bout seventy-five or more. Besides my mother an' me I had nine
sisters. I wus de younges' chile. I didn't know 'bout my father 'till
after surrender, 'cause ol' marster sold him 'way fum my mother when I
wus two years old.

"When I wus big enuff I had to go to de fiel' wid de res' o' de chillun
an' drap corn an' peas. We'd take our heels an' dent a place in de
groun' an' in every dent we had to drap two peas. Sometimes we'd make a
mistake an' drap three seeds instead o' two an' if we did dis too often
it meant de strap fum de overseer. On our plantation we had a colored
an' a white overseer.

"My ol' marster never did whup me an' he didn't 'low none o' de
overseers to whup me either. He always say: 'Dat's my nigger--I sol' his
father when I coulda saved him--he wus de bes' man I had on de
plantation.' De rest o' de slaves uster git whuppins sometimes fer not
workin' like dey should. When dey didn't work or some other little thing
like dat dey would git twenty-five or fifty lashes but de marster would
tell de overseer: 'Don't you cut my nigger's hide or scar him.' You see
if a slave wus scarred he wouldn't bring as much as one with a smooth
hide in case de marster wanted to sell 'im, 'cause de buyers would see
de scars an' say dat he wus a bad nigger.

"Sometimes de women uster git whuppins fer fightin'. Ol' marster uster
tell my mother all de time dat he wus goin' to give her one-hundred
lashes if she didn't stop fightin', but he never did do it though. My
grandmother never did git whupped. Colonel Black, her first marster,
wus her father an' when he went broke he had to sell her. When he went
broke he put her on de block--in dem days dey put slaves on de block to
sell 'em jes' like dey do horses an' mules now--he say to de gentlemen
gathered 'roun: 'Dis is my nigger an' my chile; she is a midwife an' a
extraordinary weaver an' whoever buys her has got to promise to treat
her like a white chile.' My marster bought her an' he treated her like
she wus white, too. He never did try to hit her an' he wouldn't let
nobody else hit her.

"We always had a plenty to eat an' if we didn't we'd go out in
somebody's