Plantation Life: Slave Narrative by Rachel Adams Lyrics
PLANTATION- LIFE
RACHEL ADAMS
300 ODD STREET
ATHENS, GEORGIA
Written by: Sadie B. Hornsby
Athens -
Federal Writers' Project
Residencies 6 & 7.
Augusta, Georgia.
100075
RACHEL ADAMS
Ex-Slave - Age 78,
Rachel Adams two-room, frame house is perched on the side of a steep hill where peach trees and bamboo form dense shade. Stalks of corn at the rear of the dwelling reach almost to the roof ridge and a portion of the front yard is enclosed for a chicken yard. Stepping gingerly around the amazing number of nondescript articles scattered about the small veranda, the visitor rapped several times on the front door, but received no response. A neighbor said the old woman might be found at her son's store, but she was finally located at the home of a daughter.
Rachel came to the front door with a sandwich of hoecake and cheese in one hand and a glass of water in the other.
"Dis here's Rachel Adams," she declared. "Have a seat on de porch.
Rachel is tall, thin, very black, and wears glasses. Her faded pink
outing wrapper was partly covered by an apron made of a heavy meal seek. Tennis shoes, worn without hose, and a man's black hat completed her outfit.
Rachel began her story by saying: "Miss, dats been sich a long time back dat I has most forgot how things went"
Anyhow I was borned in Putman County 'bout two miles from Eatonton, Georgia. My Ma and Pa was Melia and Isaac Little and, far as I knows, dey was borned and bred in dat same county. Pa, he was sold away from Ma when I was still a baby. Ma's job was to weave all
de' cloth for de white folks. I have wore many a dress made out of
de homespun what she wove. There was 17 of us chillun, and I can't
'member de names of but two of 'em now - dey was John and Sarah.
John was Ma's onliest son; all de rest of de other 16 of us was gals*
"Us lived in mud-daubed log cabins what had old stack chimblies made out of sticks and mud. Our old home-made beds
didn't have no slats or metal springs neither. Dey used stout cords
for springs. 'De cloth what dey made the ticks of dem old hay mattresses end pillows out of was so coarse dat it scratched us little chillun nost to death, it seemed lak to us dem days. I kin still feel dem old hay mattresses under me now. Evvy time I moved at night it sounded lak de wind blowin' through dem peach trees and bamboos round de front of de house whar I lives now.
Grandma Anna was 115 years old when she died. She had done wore herself out in slavery time. Grandpa, he was sold off somewhar. Both of 'em was field hands.
Potlicker and cornbread was fed to us chillun out of big old wooden bowls. Two or three chillun et out of de same- bowl. Grown folks had meat, greens, syrup, cornbread, taters 'an de lak. 'Possums! I should say so. Dey cot eh plenty of 'em. And after dey was kilt Ma would scald 'em and rub 'em in hot ashes and just cleant' em just as pretty and white. OO-o-o but dey was good.
Lord, Yessum' Dey used to go fishin' and rabbit huntin' too. Us jus'
fetched in game galore den, for it was de style dem days. Dere warn't
no market meat in slavery days. Seemed like to me in dem days that
ash-roasted 'taters and groundpeas was de best somtpin' anybody could want to eat.
Course dey had a garden, and it had somethin'of Jus' about everything any of us knowed anything about in dem days.
All de ccokin' was done in 'dem big 'ol open fireplaces what was fixed up special for de pots and ovens. Ashcake was most as good as taters cooked in de ashes, but not quite.
Summertime, us jus' wore homespun dresses made lak de slips dey use for underwear now. De coats what us wore over our wool dresses in winter was knowed as 'sacques' den, 'cause dey was
so loose fitting. 'Dey was heavy and had wool in 'em too...
...Marse Lewis Little and his wife, Miss Sallie owned us, and Old Miss, she died long 'fore de surrender. Marse Lewis, he was right good to all his slaves; but dat overseer, he would beat us down in a minute if us didn't do to suit him. When dey give slaves tasks to do and dey warn't done in a certain time, dat old oversear would whup 'em 'bout dat. Marster never had to take any of his Niggers to court or put 'em in jails neither; Jim and de overseer sot 'em right. Long as Miss Sallie lived de carriage driver driver and her and Marse Lewis around lots, hut atter she died dere warn't so much use of de carriage. He just
drive for Marse Lewis and piddled 'round de yard den.
Some slaves larnt to read and write. If dey went to meetin' dey had to go wid deir white folks 'cause dey didn't have no separate churches for de Niggers 'til atter de war. On our Merster's place, slaves didn't go off to meetin' at all. Dey jus'
went 'round to one anothers houses and sung songs. Some of 'em read de Bible by heart. Once I heared a man preach what didn't know
how to read one word in de Bible, and he didn't have no Bible yet!
De fust baptizin' I ever seed was after I was nigh 'bout grown. If a slave from our place ever jined up wid a church 'fore de war was over, I never heared tell nothin' bout it.
Lordy, Miss! I didn't know nothin' 'bout what a funeral was dem days. If a Nigger died dis monin, dey shor'didn't waste no time a-puttin'
him right on down in de ground dat same day. Dem coffins never had no shape to 'em; dey was just square sliced pine boxes. Now warnr't dat turrible?
Slaves never went nowhere widout dem patrollers beating 'em up if dey didn't have no pass.
"Dere was hunderds of acres in dat dere plantation. Marse Lewis had a heap of slaves. De overseer, he had a bugle what he blowed to wake up de slaves- He blowed it long before day so dat dey could eat breikfist and be out dere in de field before de sun to rise so dey could see how to work, and dey stayed; out dar and wukked 'til black dark. When a rainy spell come and de grass got to growin' fast, dey wukked dem slaves at night, even when de moon warnt
shinin.' On dem' dark nights one set of slaves helt lanterns for de others to see how to chop de weeds out of de cotton and corn. Wuk was sho' tight dem days. Evvy slave had a task to do after dey got back to dem cabins at night. Dey each one hed to spin deir stint same as de womans, evvy night.
Young"and old washed deir clothes Sadday nights. Dey hardly knowed what Sunday was. Dey didn't have but one day in de Christmas, and de only diffrence dey see on dat was dey give em some biscuits on Christmas day. New Year's Day was rail-splittin'
day. Dey was told how many rails was to be cut, and dem Niggers
better split dat many or somebody was gwine to git beat up.
I don't remember much 'bout what us played, 'cept
de way us chillun use to run round in a ring. Us chillun was allways skeered to play in de thicket near de house 'cause Raw Head and Bloody Bones lived there. Dey used to skeer us out of eatin' red 'tater. Dey wes fine 'taters, red on de outside and pretty and white on de inside, but white folks called 'em nigger-killers. Dat was one of deir tricks to keep us from stealin' dem' taters. Warn't nothin' wrong wid dem 'taters; dey was jus' as good and healthy as any other 'taters.
Aunt Lucy, she was de cook, and she told me dat slaves was skeered
of dem nigger-killer 'taters and never bothered 'em much den lak
dey does de yam patches dese days. I used to think I seed haints
at night, but it allus turned but to be somebody dat was trying
to skeer me.
'Bout de most fun slaves had was at dem cornshuckin's. De general would git high on top of de corn pile and whoop and holler down leading dat cornshucking song 'til all de corn was done shucked. Den come de big eats, de likker, and de dancing
Cotton pickin's was big fun too, and when dey got through pickin' de
cotton dey et and drunk and danced til dey couldn't dance no more.
Miss, white folks jus' had to be good to sick slaves, 'cause slaves was property. For Old Marster to lose a slave, was losin' money. 'ere warn't so many doctors dem days and homemade medicines was all de got. Oil and turpentine, camphor, assfiddy (asafetida), cherry bark, sweetgum bark; all dem things was used to make teas for grown folks to take for deir ailments, Red oak bark tea was give to chillun' for stomach miseries.
All I can ricollect 'bout de comin' of freedom wes Old marster tellin' us dat us was free as jack-rabbits and dat from den on Niggers would have to git deir own somepin t'eat. It wern't long after dat when dem yankees, wid pretty blue clothes on come through our place and dey stole most everything our Marster had.
Dey kilt his chickens, hogs, and cows and took his horses off and
sold 'em. Dat didn't look right, did it?
My aunt give us a big weddin' feast when I married Tom Adams, and she shure did pile up dat table wid heaps of good eatments. My weddin' dress was blue, trimmed in white.
Us had six chillun, nine grandchillun, and 19 great-grandchillun.
One of my grandchillun is done been blind since he was three weeks
old. I sent him off to de blind school and now he kin git around
'most as good as I kin* He has made his home wid me ever since his
mammy died.
Cordin' to my way of thinking Abraham Lincoln done a good thing when he sot us free. Jeff Davis, he was all right too, 'cause if him and Lincoln hadn't got to fighting us would have been slaves to dis very day. It's mighty good to do jus' as you please, and bread and water is heaps better dan dat somepin to eat us had to slave for.
We joined up wid de church 'cause I wanted to go to heaven when I dies, and if folks lives right dey sho' is gwine to have a good restin'
place in de next world. Yes Ma'am, I sho' b'lieves'in religion, dat i does.
Now, Miss, if you ain't got nothin' else to ax me, I'se gwine home and give dat blind boy his somepin' t'eat.
RACHEL ADAMS
300 ODD STREET
ATHENS, GEORGIA
Written by: Sadie B. Hornsby
Athens -
Federal Writers' Project
Residencies 6 & 7.
Augusta, Georgia.
100075
RACHEL ADAMS
Ex-Slave - Age 78,
Rachel Adams two-room, frame house is perched on the side of a steep hill where peach trees and bamboo form dense shade. Stalks of corn at the rear of the dwelling reach almost to the roof ridge and a portion of the front yard is enclosed for a chicken yard. Stepping gingerly around the amazing number of nondescript articles scattered about the small veranda, the visitor rapped several times on the front door, but received no response. A neighbor said the old woman might be found at her son's store, but she was finally located at the home of a daughter.
Rachel came to the front door with a sandwich of hoecake and cheese in one hand and a glass of water in the other.
"Dis here's Rachel Adams," she declared. "Have a seat on de porch.
Rachel is tall, thin, very black, and wears glasses. Her faded pink
outing wrapper was partly covered by an apron made of a heavy meal seek. Tennis shoes, worn without hose, and a man's black hat completed her outfit.
Rachel began her story by saying: "Miss, dats been sich a long time back dat I has most forgot how things went"
Anyhow I was borned in Putman County 'bout two miles from Eatonton, Georgia. My Ma and Pa was Melia and Isaac Little and, far as I knows, dey was borned and bred in dat same county. Pa, he was sold away from Ma when I was still a baby. Ma's job was to weave all
de' cloth for de white folks. I have wore many a dress made out of
de homespun what she wove. There was 17 of us chillun, and I can't
'member de names of but two of 'em now - dey was John and Sarah.
John was Ma's onliest son; all de rest of de other 16 of us was gals*
"Us lived in mud-daubed log cabins what had old stack chimblies made out of sticks and mud. Our old home-made beds
didn't have no slats or metal springs neither. Dey used stout cords
for springs. 'De cloth what dey made the ticks of dem old hay mattresses end pillows out of was so coarse dat it scratched us little chillun nost to death, it seemed lak to us dem days. I kin still feel dem old hay mattresses under me now. Evvy time I moved at night it sounded lak de wind blowin' through dem peach trees and bamboos round de front of de house whar I lives now.
Grandma Anna was 115 years old when she died. She had done wore herself out in slavery time. Grandpa, he was sold off somewhar. Both of 'em was field hands.
Potlicker and cornbread was fed to us chillun out of big old wooden bowls. Two or three chillun et out of de same- bowl. Grown folks had meat, greens, syrup, cornbread, taters 'an de lak. 'Possums! I should say so. Dey cot eh plenty of 'em. And after dey was kilt Ma would scald 'em and rub 'em in hot ashes and just cleant' em just as pretty and white. OO-o-o but dey was good.
Lord, Yessum' Dey used to go fishin' and rabbit huntin' too. Us jus'
fetched in game galore den, for it was de style dem days. Dere warn't
no market meat in slavery days. Seemed like to me in dem days that
ash-roasted 'taters and groundpeas was de best somtpin' anybody could want to eat.
Course dey had a garden, and it had somethin'of Jus' about everything any of us knowed anything about in dem days.
All de ccokin' was done in 'dem big 'ol open fireplaces what was fixed up special for de pots and ovens. Ashcake was most as good as taters cooked in de ashes, but not quite.
Summertime, us jus' wore homespun dresses made lak de slips dey use for underwear now. De coats what us wore over our wool dresses in winter was knowed as 'sacques' den, 'cause dey was
so loose fitting. 'Dey was heavy and had wool in 'em too...
...Marse Lewis Little and his wife, Miss Sallie owned us, and Old Miss, she died long 'fore de surrender. Marse Lewis, he was right good to all his slaves; but dat overseer, he would beat us down in a minute if us didn't do to suit him. When dey give slaves tasks to do and dey warn't done in a certain time, dat old oversear would whup 'em 'bout dat. Marster never had to take any of his Niggers to court or put 'em in jails neither; Jim and de overseer sot 'em right. Long as Miss Sallie lived de carriage driver driver and her and Marse Lewis around lots, hut atter she died dere warn't so much use of de carriage. He just
drive for Marse Lewis and piddled 'round de yard den.
Some slaves larnt to read and write. If dey went to meetin' dey had to go wid deir white folks 'cause dey didn't have no separate churches for de Niggers 'til atter de war. On our Merster's place, slaves didn't go off to meetin' at all. Dey jus'
went 'round to one anothers houses and sung songs. Some of 'em read de Bible by heart. Once I heared a man preach what didn't know
how to read one word in de Bible, and he didn't have no Bible yet!
De fust baptizin' I ever seed was after I was nigh 'bout grown. If a slave from our place ever jined up wid a church 'fore de war was over, I never heared tell nothin' bout it.
Lordy, Miss! I didn't know nothin' 'bout what a funeral was dem days. If a Nigger died dis monin, dey shor'didn't waste no time a-puttin'
him right on down in de ground dat same day. Dem coffins never had no shape to 'em; dey was just square sliced pine boxes. Now warnr't dat turrible?
Slaves never went nowhere widout dem patrollers beating 'em up if dey didn't have no pass.
"Dere was hunderds of acres in dat dere plantation. Marse Lewis had a heap of slaves. De overseer, he had a bugle what he blowed to wake up de slaves- He blowed it long before day so dat dey could eat breikfist and be out dere in de field before de sun to rise so dey could see how to work, and dey stayed; out dar and wukked 'til black dark. When a rainy spell come and de grass got to growin' fast, dey wukked dem slaves at night, even when de moon warnt
shinin.' On dem' dark nights one set of slaves helt lanterns for de others to see how to chop de weeds out of de cotton and corn. Wuk was sho' tight dem days. Evvy slave had a task to do after dey got back to dem cabins at night. Dey each one hed to spin deir stint same as de womans, evvy night.
Young"and old washed deir clothes Sadday nights. Dey hardly knowed what Sunday was. Dey didn't have but one day in de Christmas, and de only diffrence dey see on dat was dey give em some biscuits on Christmas day. New Year's Day was rail-splittin'
day. Dey was told how many rails was to be cut, and dem Niggers
better split dat many or somebody was gwine to git beat up.
I don't remember much 'bout what us played, 'cept
de way us chillun use to run round in a ring. Us chillun was allways skeered to play in de thicket near de house 'cause Raw Head and Bloody Bones lived there. Dey used to skeer us out of eatin' red 'tater. Dey wes fine 'taters, red on de outside and pretty and white on de inside, but white folks called 'em nigger-killers. Dat was one of deir tricks to keep us from stealin' dem' taters. Warn't nothin' wrong wid dem 'taters; dey was jus' as good and healthy as any other 'taters.
Aunt Lucy, she was de cook, and she told me dat slaves was skeered
of dem nigger-killer 'taters and never bothered 'em much den lak
dey does de yam patches dese days. I used to think I seed haints
at night, but it allus turned but to be somebody dat was trying
to skeer me.
'Bout de most fun slaves had was at dem cornshuckin's. De general would git high on top of de corn pile and whoop and holler down leading dat cornshucking song 'til all de corn was done shucked. Den come de big eats, de likker, and de dancing
Cotton pickin's was big fun too, and when dey got through pickin' de
cotton dey et and drunk and danced til dey couldn't dance no more.
Miss, white folks jus' had to be good to sick slaves, 'cause slaves was property. For Old Marster to lose a slave, was losin' money. 'ere warn't so many doctors dem days and homemade medicines was all de got. Oil and turpentine, camphor, assfiddy (asafetida), cherry bark, sweetgum bark; all dem things was used to make teas for grown folks to take for deir ailments, Red oak bark tea was give to chillun' for stomach miseries.
All I can ricollect 'bout de comin' of freedom wes Old marster tellin' us dat us was free as jack-rabbits and dat from den on Niggers would have to git deir own somepin t'eat. It wern't long after dat when dem yankees, wid pretty blue clothes on come through our place and dey stole most everything our Marster had.
Dey kilt his chickens, hogs, and cows and took his horses off and
sold 'em. Dat didn't look right, did it?
My aunt give us a big weddin' feast when I married Tom Adams, and she shure did pile up dat table wid heaps of good eatments. My weddin' dress was blue, trimmed in white.
Us had six chillun, nine grandchillun, and 19 great-grandchillun.
One of my grandchillun is done been blind since he was three weeks
old. I sent him off to de blind school and now he kin git around
'most as good as I kin* He has made his home wid me ever since his
mammy died.
Cordin' to my way of thinking Abraham Lincoln done a good thing when he sot us free. Jeff Davis, he was all right too, 'cause if him and Lincoln hadn't got to fighting us would have been slaves to dis very day. It's mighty good to do jus' as you please, and bread and water is heaps better dan dat somepin to eat us had to slave for.
We joined up wid de church 'cause I wanted to go to heaven when I dies, and if folks lives right dey sho' is gwine to have a good restin'
place in de next world. Yes Ma'am, I sho' b'lieves'in religion, dat i does.
Now, Miss, if you ain't got nothin' else to ax me, I'se gwine home and give dat blind boy his somepin' t'eat.