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قراءة كتاب Slave Narratives: a Folk History of Slavery in the United States, From Interviews with Former Slaves Virginia Narratives
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Slave Narratives: a Folk History of Slavery in the United States, From Interviews with Former Slaves Virginia Narratives
SLAVE NARRATIVES
A Folk History of Slavery in the United States
From Interviews with Former Slaves
TYPEWRITTEN RECORDS PREPARED BY
THE FEDERAL WRITERS' PROJECT
1936-1938
ASSEMBLED BY
THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS PROJECT
WORK PROJECTS ADMINISTRATION
FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
SPONSORED BY THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS
WASHINGTON 1941
VOLUME XVII
VIRGINIA NARRATIVES
Prepared by
the Federal Writers' Project of
the Works Progress Administration
for the State of Virginia
Transcriber's Note:
To reflect the individual character of this document, most inconsistencies in spelling, punctuation, and formatting have been retained. Obvious typos and some punctuation (mostly quotation marks) have been fixed. Spelling changes are underlined in the text with a dotted line: original text appears in a mouse hoverbox over each corrected word, like this. All strike-outs over words were hand-written.
[HW: text] denotes hand-written addition unless otherwise noted.
[TR: text] denotes transcriber's note.
INFORMANTS
| Berry, Fannie | 1 |
| Crawley, Charles | 7 |
| Fulkes, Minnie | 11 |
| Giwbs (Gibbs?), Georgina | 15 |
| Goodwin, Candis | 17 |
| Grandy, Charles | 21 |
| Harris, Della | 24 |
| Hines, Marriah | 27 |
| Hopson, Moble | 31 |
| Jones, Albert | 42 |
| Kelly, Susan, and Stokes, Simon | 44 |
| Slaughter, Richard | 46 |
| Sparks, Elizabeth | 50 |
| Wilson, Mary Jane | 55 |
Interview of Mrs. Fannie Berry, Ex-slave
861 E. Bank Street—Petersburg, Virginia
By Susie Byrd, Petersburg, Virginia
Date—February 26, 1937
NAT TURNER
Back 'fore the sixties, I can 'member my Mistress, Miss Sara Ann, comin' to de window an' hollerin', "De niggers is arisin'! De niggers is arisin'! De niggers is killin' all de white folks, killin' all de babies in de cradle!" It must have been Nat Turner's Insurrection; which wuz sometime 'fo de breakin' of de Civil War.
I wuz waitin' on table in dinin' room an' dis day dey had finished eatin' early an' I wuz cleanin' off table. Don't you know I must have been a good size gal.
JOHN BROWN
Yes, I 'member something 'bout him too. I know my Master came home an' said, dat on his way to de gallows ole John stopped an' kissed a little nigger child. "How com' I don't 'member? Don't tell me I don't 'cause I do. I don't care if its done bin a thousand years." I know what Master said an' it is as fresh in my mind as it wuz dat day. Dis is de song I herd my Master sing:
Purpose to raise an insurrection;
Old Governor Wise put the specks upon his eyes
An' showed him the happy land of Canaan.
INVENTION
My Master tole us dat de niggers started the railroad, an' dat a nigger lookin' at a boilin' coffee pot on a stove one day got the idea dat he could cause it to run by putting wheels on it. Dis nigger being a blacksmith put his thoughts into action by makin' wheels an' put coffee on it, an' by some kinder means he made it run an' the idea wuz stole from him an' dey built de steamengine.
RELATIONSHIP
I wuz one slave dat de poor white man had his match. See Miss Sue? Dese here ol' white men said, "what I can't do by fair means I'll do by foul." One tried to throw me, but he couldn't. We tusseled an' knocked over chairs an' when I got a grip I scratched his face all to pieces; an dar wuz no more bothering Fannie from him; but oh, honey, some slaves would be beat up so, when dey resisted, an' sometimes if you'll 'belled de overseer would kill yo'. Us Colored women had to go through a plenty, I tell you.
MARRIAGE
Elder Williams married me in Miss Delia Mann's (white) parlor