Homeless, Friendless, and Penniless

Ronald L. Baker

Description

Examines the lives of former slaves in Indiana

Homeless, Friendless, and Penniless
The WPA Interviews with Former Slaves Living in Indiana
Ronald L. Baker

Lives of former slaves in their own words, published for the first time.

Based on a collection of interviews conducted in the late 1930s, Homeless, Friendless, and Penniless is an invaluable record of the lives and thoughts of former slaves who moved to Indiana after the Civil War and made significant contributions to the evolving patchwork of Hoosier culture.

The Indiana slave narratives provide a glimpse of slavery as remembered by those who experienced it, preserving insiders' views of a tragic chapter in American history. Though they were living in Indiana at the time of the interviews, these African Americans been enslaved in 11 different states from the Carolinas to Louisiana. The interviews deal with life and work on the plantation; the treatment of slaves; escaping from slavery; education, religion, and slave folklore; and recollections of the Civil War. Just as important, the interviews reveal how former slaves fared in Indiana after the Civil War and during the Depression. Some became ministers, a few became educators, and one became a physician; but many lived in poverty and survived on Christian faith and small government pensions.

Ronald L. Baker, Chairperson and Professor of English at Indiana State University, is author of many books, including Hoosier Folk Legends and From Needmore to Prosperity: Hoosier Place Names in Folklore and History (both from Indiana University Press. He is co-author of Indiana Place Names with Marvin Carmony and editor of The Folklore Historian, the journal of the Folklore and History Section of the American Folklore Society.

Contents
Part One: A Folk History of Slavery
Background of the WPA Interviews
Presentation of Material
Living and Working on the Plantation
The Treatment of Slaves
Escaping from Slavery
Education
Religion
Folklore
Recollections of the Civil War
Living and Working after the Civil War
Value of the WPA Interviews
Acknowledgments
Part Two: The WPA Interviews with Former Slaves [134 entries]
Appendices, including Thematic Index

Contents
Part One: A Folk History of Slavery

Part Two: The WPA Interviews with Former Slaves
Appendices
Appendix I: Informants
Appendix II: Slave States of Informants
Appendix III: Indiana Towns of Residence of Informants
Appendix IV: Indiana Counties of Residence of Informants
Appendix V: Unaltered Versions of Previously Unpublished Indiana Interviews with Former Slaves
Appendix VI: Thematic Index
Living and Working on the Plantation
The Treatment of Slaves
Escaping from Slavery
Education
Religion
Folklore
Recollections of the Civil War
Living and Working after the Civil War
Works Consulted
Index

Sujets

• Ethnic Studies
• HISTORY
• Histoire
• Folclore
• América
• General officer
• History of the United States
• History of the Americas
• African American
• General
• American
• United States
• American History
• Folklore

Informations

• Publié par: Indiana University Press
• Date de parution: 22 octobre 2000
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9780253028570
• Langue: English

Extrait

HOMELESS, FRIENDLESS, AND PENNILESS

HOMELESS, FRIENDLESS, AND PENNILESS
THE WPA INTERVIEWS WITH FORMER SLAVES LIVING IN INDIANA
Ronald L. Baker

INDIANA UNIVERSITY PRESS Bloomington and Indianapolis
Publication of this book is made possible in part with the assistance of a Challenge Grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities, a federal agency that supports research, education, and public programming in the humanities.
This book is a publication of
Indiana University Press 601 North Morton Street Bloomington, IN 47404-03797 USA
http://www.indiana.edu/~iupress
Telephone orders      800-842-6796 Fax orders      812-855-7931 Orders by e-mail      [e-mail]
© 2000 by Ronald L. Baker
All rights reserved
No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. The Association of American University Presses’ Resolution on Permissions constitutes the only exception to this prohibition.
The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of American National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI Z39.48–1984.
Manufactured in the United States of America
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Homeless, friendless, and penniless : the WPA interviews with former slaves living in Indiana / [compiled by] Ronald L. Baker. p. cm. From interviews conducted in the 1930s by fieldworkers of the Federal Writers’ Project of the Works Progress Administration. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0-253-33803-4 (alk. paper) 1. Slaves—Indiana—Interviews. 2. Slaves—Southern States—Social conditions—Sources. 3. Plantation life—Southern States—History— Sources. I. Baker, Ronald L., date. II. Federal Writers’ Project.
E444 .H66 2000 975-dc21
00-032004
1  2  3  4  5  05  04  03  02  01  00
TO JILL
Nowhere do American history and folklore intersect more closely than in the “peculiar institution.”
—R ICHARD M. D ORSON
CONTENTS
Acknowledgments
PART ONE: A FOLK HISTORY OF SLAVERY
Background of the WPA Interviews
Presentation of Materials
Living and Working on the Plantation
The Treatment of Slaves
Escaping from Slavery
Education
Religion
Folklore
Recollections of the Civil War
Living and Working after the Civil War
Value of the WPA Interviews
PART TWO: THE WPA INTERVIEWS WITH FORMER SLAVES
1. J OSEPH A LLEN I’ll Eat You Up Like a Dog
2. G EORGE W. A RNOLD The Life of a Roustabout Is the Life of a Dog
3. T HOMAS A SH I Have No Way of Knowing Exactly How Old I Am
4. R OSA B ARBER Slaves Were Not Taught the Three Rs
5. L EWIS B ARNETT That Was the Way He Went When He Was Trying to Get Away
6. R OBERT B ARTON That’s How Some Escaped to Canada
7. A NTHONY B ATTLE Runaway Slaves Would Kill the Dogs Chasing Them and Never Be Caught
8. G EORGE B EATTY Many Blacks with Only Their Clothing Crossed the River
9. S AMUEL B ELL Religion Is Worth the Greatest Fortune
10. M ITTIE B LAKELEY They Were Whipped Often and Hard
11. P ATSY J ANE B LAND Free? Is Anybody Ever Free?
12. L IZZIE B OLDEN A Much Easier Time Before She Was Free
13. C ARL B OONE Our Lives, Though Happy, Have Been Continuously Ones of Hard Work
14. W ALTER B ORLAND If Anyone Said Anything against the Negroes, There Was a Fuss
15. J ULIA B OWMAN Living in the Big House
16. A NGIE M OORE B OYCE Arrested in Indiana, Jailed in Louisville
17. E DNA B OYSAW When Lincoln Freed Us, We Rejoiced
18. C ALLIE B RACEY Women Had to Split Rails All Day Long Just Like the Men
19. T OLBERT B RAGG He Had a Great Desire to Go Up North and See the Country
20. G EORGE W ASHINGTON B UCKNER Yes, the Road Has Been Long
21. G EORGE T AYLOR B URNS Yes, I Know a Lot about Boats
22. B ELLE B UTLER A Mean Old Devil
23. J OSEPH W ILLIAM C ARTER I Wish the Whole World Would Be Decent
24. E LLEN C AVE Her Owner Was a Mean Man
25. H ARRIET C HEATAM And Did We Eat!
26. R OBERT J. C HEATHAM Educated Slaves Forged Passes and Escaped to Northern States
27. J AMES C HILDRESS Slaves Always Prayed to God for Freedom
28. S ARAH C OLBERT The Village Witch
29. F RANK C OOPER Misery Days
30. J OHN C OOPER I Got Religion
31. M ARY C RANE Almost Sold down the River
32. C ORNELIUS C ROSS Auctioned Off More Times Than He Had Fingers and Toes
33. E THEL D AUGHERTY A Slaveholder Kept Many Black Women in His House
34. J OHN D AUGHERTY Ignorance of the Bible Caused All the Trouble
35. L IZZIE D AUGHERTY One of the Saddest Events That Could Happen to a Mother
36. R ACHAEL D UNCAN Some of the Folks Was Mean to Me
37. H. H. E DMUNDS They Poured Out Their Religious Feelings in Their Spirituals
38. J OHN E UBANKS Most the Time We’s Hungry, but We Win The War
39. J OHN W. F IELDS Twelve Children Were Taken from My Mother in One Day
40. G EORGE F ORTMAN Indian Slaves
41. A LEX F OWLER The First Black in Lake County
42. M ATTIE F ULLER I Have Sang Myself to Death
43. F RANCIS G AMMONS Slaves Were Treated as Well as Could Be Expected
44. J OHN H ENRY G IBSON He Liked Indianapolis So Well That He Decided to Stay
45. P ETER G OHAGEN We Used to Have Some Fine Times
46. S IDNEY G RAHAM Escaping from Ku Kluxers
47. Ms. L. G REEN If Anyone Got Paid for Her Family’s History, She Wanted the Money
48. B ETTY G UWN Discipline Was Quite Stern
49. J OSIE H ARRELL Buried Treasure on the Old Stephen Lee Place
50. M ASTON H ARRIS Valued at $1,200, He Was Permitted to Buy His Freedom
51. N EALY H ARVEY Many Times She Had Nothing to Eat
52. J OSEPHINE H ICKS Her Master Was Also Her Father, so She Was Always Well Treated
53. D R . S OLOMON H ICKS All He Was Given Was a Three-Legged Horse to Start Life Anew
54. M RS . H OCKADAY Northerners Would Not Trust Them
55. S AMANTHA H OUGH I Believe a Little in Dreams
56. R OBERT H OWARD A Very Kind Old Man
57. M ATTHEW H UME They Came to Indiana Homeless, Friendless, and Penniless
58. L ILLIAN H UNTER Punishment Sent Direct from God
59. H ENRIETTA J ACKSON Ironing White Folks’ Collars and Cuffs
60. M ATTIE J ENKINS Pins Were Stuck through Their Tongues
61. L IZZIE J OHNSON They Wanted Most for Their Children to Learn to Read and Write
62. P ETE J OHNSON That’s a Whipping House for the Likes of You
63. E LIZABETH (B ETTIE ) J ONES Yes, Honey, I Was a Slave
64. I RA J ONES Ira’s Family Was Mistreated by White People
65. N ATHAN J ONES A Very Cruel Way to Treat Human Beings
66. R ALPH K ATES I Came to the World a Year Too Late to Be Born a Slave
67. A LEXANDER K ELLEY A Mature Man-Slave of Good Physique Was Worth as High as $3,000
68. B ELL D EAM K ELLEY Bell’s Parents Lived Together but Worked on Different Plantations
69. E LVIRA L EE God Washed Out Her Insides with Milk, Which Killed All Her Sins
70. A DELINE R OSE L ENNOX I’ve Seen and Done a Lot of Things That Most Folks Have Missed
71. T HOMAS L EWIS There Was No Such Thing as Being Good to Slaves
72. L EVI L INZY Salt and Pepper Put in Raw Wounds
73. S ARAH H. L OCKE An Intelligent Old Lady
74. M ARIA L OVE Her Mother Had to Work Very Hard, Just Like a Man
75. T HOMAS M AGRUDER A Possible Prototype for Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom
76. H ETTIE M CCLAIN Slaves Were Held in Kentucky after the Civil War
77. R OBERT M CKINLEY Considered Rich, for They Could Eat Meat without Stealing It
78. R ICHARD M ILLER His Early Life Was a Nightmare
79. B EN M OORE Ben Was a Hoss
80. J OHN M OORE At the Wedding Both Bride and Groom Jumped over a Broom Handle
81. H ENRY C LAY M OORMAN Slaves Seldom Married among Themselves on the Same Plantation
82. A MERICA M ORGAN She Believed Firmly in Haunts
83. G EORGE M ORRISON I Don’t Really Believe in Ghosts, but You Know How It Is
84. J OSEPH M OSLEY Sometimes They Had Nothing but Garbage to Eat
85. H ENRY N EAL You Are Just as Free as I or Anyone Else in This United States
86. R EVEREND O LIVER N ELSON Speak Those Greasy Words Again, Brother
87. S ARAH O’D ONNELL It Is Tiresome, but I Am Patiently Waiting the Call
88. R UDOLPH D. O’H ARA Just Like the Ground Had Swallowed Him Up
89. W. F. P ARROTT Slaveholders Showed a Different Face to Union Troops
90. A MY E LIZABETH P ATTERSON She Became a Firm Believer in Communication with Departed Ones
91. S PEAR P ITMAN Some Overseers Liked to See Blood and Whipped for Nothin’ at All
92. N ELSON P OLK Dogs Couldn’t Trail Runaway Slaves on a Stream Bed
93. N ETTIE P OMPEY The Slave Children Were Treated as Well as the White Children
94. M RS . P RESTON Her Father’s Farm Was Burned Out by the Ku Klux Klan
95. W ILLIAM M. Q UINN Gift Slaves
96. C ANDIES R ICHARDSON Jim Scott Beat Her Husband for Praying
97. J OE R OBINSON Rube Black Beat His Slaves Severely