9ROBERT FALL\, GE9 ; SLAVE9IN R,H OIN . TENN#145. IF I HAD MY LIFE TO LIVE OVER AGAIN I WOULD RATHER DIE THAN BE A SLAVE AGAI N. I WANT NO MAN'S YOKE ON MY SHOULDERS NO MORE. BUT IN THEM DAYS, US NIGGERS DIDN'T KNOW NO BETTER. ALL WE KNEW WAS WORK, AND HARD WOR]. 6WE6WAS LEARNED O SAY "YES SIR" AND SCAPE DOWN AND BOW, AND TO DO JUST EXACTLY WHAT WE WERE TOLD TO DO, MAKE NO DIFFERENCE IF WE WANTED TO OR NOT. OLD MARSTER AND OLD MISTRESS WOULD SAY "DO THIS]" AND WE DID IT. AND THEY SAY, "COME HERE]" AND F WE DIm)' T COME TO THEM, THEY WOULD COME TO US. AND THEY BROUGHT THE BUNCH OF SWITCHES WITH THEM. THEY DIDN'T HALF FEED US EITHER. THEY FED THE ANIMALS BETTE. ,((Y7G VE T HE MULES, RUFFAGE AND SUCH TO CHAW ON ALL NIGHT. BUT THEY DIDN'T GIVE US ANYTHI NG TO CHAW ON. TAUGHT US HOW TO STEAL, THAT IS WHAT THEY DID. WHY, WE WOULD TA KE ANYTHING WE COULD LAY OUR HANDS ON, WHEN WE WERE HUNGRY. THEN THEY WOULD WHI P US FOR LYING WHEN WE SAID WE DIDN'T KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT IT. BUT IT WAS EASIER TO STAND, WHEN THE STOMACH WAS FULL. NOW MY FATHER, HE WAS A FIGHTER. HE WAS MEAN AS A BEAR. HE WAS SO BAD TO FIGHT AND SO TROUBLESOME HE WAS SOLD FOUR TIME TO MY KNOWING AND MAYBE A HEAP MORE TIMES. THAT IS HOW COME MY NAME IS FALLS, EVEN IF SOME DO CALL ME ROBERT G OFORTH. NIGGERS WOULD CHANGE TO THE NAME OF THEIR NEW MARSTER EVERY TIME THEY W AS SOLD. AND MY FATHER HAD A LOT OF NAMES, BUT KEPT THE ONE OF HIS MARSTER WHEN HE GOT A GOOD HOME. THAT MAN WAS HARRY FALLS. HE SAID HE HAD BEEN TRYING TO B UY FATHER FOR A LONG TIME, BECAUSE HE WAS THE BEST WAGGONER IN ALL THAT COUNTRY ABOUTS. AND THE MAN THAT SOLD HIM TO FALLS, HIS NAME WAS COLLINS. HE TOLD MY F ATHER:"YOU ARE SO MEAN I GOT TO SELL YOU. YOU ALL TIME COMPLAINING ABOUT HOW YOU DON'T LIKE YOUR WHITE FOLKS. TELL ME NOW WHO YOU WANT TO LIVE WITH. JU ST PICK YOUR MAN AND I WILL GO SEE HIM." THEN MY FATHER TOLD COLLINS, I WANT YO U TO SELL ME TO MARSTER HARRY FALLS. THEY MADE THE TRADE. I DO NOT REMEMBER WHAT THE MONEY WAS, BUT IT WAS BIG. GOOD WORKERS SOLD FOR ONE THOUSAND OLLARS AND TWO THOUSAND DOLLARS. AFTER THAT THE WHITE6FOLKS DI )'THAVE NO MO RE TROUBLE WITH MY FATHER. BUT HE WOULD STILL FIGHT. THAT MAN WOULD FIGHT A S HE-BEAR AND LICK HER EVERY TIME. MY MOTHER WAS SOLD THREE TIMES BEFORE I WAS BORN. THE LAST ItME W S fHnNO LD GOFORTH SOLD HER TO THE SLAVE SPECULATORS; YOU KNOW EVERY TIME THEY NEEDED MONEY THEY WOULD SELL A SLAVE; AND THEY WAS TAKING THEM, DRIVING THEM, JUST LIKE A PACK OF MULES, TO THE MARKET FROM NORTH CAROLINA INTO SOUTH CAROLINA , SHE BEGAN TO HAVE FITS. YOU SEE THEY HAD SOLD HER AWAY FROM HER BABY. AND J UST LIKE I TELL YOU SHE BEGAN HAVING FITS. THEY GOT TO THE JAIL HOUSE WHERE THE Y WAS TO STAY THAT NIGHT, AND SHE TOOK ON SO, JIM SLADE AND PRESS WORTHY -- THEM WAS THE SLAVE SPECULATORS, COULDN'T DO NOTHING WITH HER. NEXT MORNING ONE-OF ,HEM TOOK8HER BACK TO MARSE GOFORTH AND TOLD HI*""LOOK8HER(,6WE C NNOT DO NOTH ING WITH THIS WOMAN. YOU GOT TO TAKE HER AND GIVE US BACK OUR MONEY. AND DO IT NOW." AND THEY MEANT IT TOO. SO OLD MARSE GOFORTH TOOK MY MOTHER AND GAVE THE M BACK THEIR MONEY. AFTER THAT NONE OF US WAS EVER SEPARATED. WE ALL LIVED, A BROTHER AND TWO SISTERS AND MY MOTHER, WITH THE GOFORTHS TILL FREEDOM. AND DO YOU KNOW, SHE NEVER DID GET OVER HAVING FITS. SHE HAD THnM EenY&.H ANGE OF THE MOON, OR LEASTWAYS EVERY OTHER MOON CHANGE. BUT SHE KEPT ON WORKING . SHE WAS A HARD WORKER. SHE HAD TO BE. OLD MISTRESS SAW TO THAT. SHE WAS ME ANER THAN OLD MARSTER, SHE WAS. SHE WOULD SIT BY THE SPINNING WHEEL AND COUNT T HE TURNS THE SLAVE WOMEN MADE. AND THEY COULDN'T FOOL HER NONE NEITHER. MY MOT HER WORKED UNTIL TEN OCLOCK ALMOST EVERY NIGHT BECAUSE HER PART WAS TO SPEND SO A (D TO SIT ON THE FLOOR WITH THE OTHER LITTLE FELLOWS WHILE OUR MOTHERS 6RKE<, AND SOME IMES ,HE > ITE6FOLK\'GIRLS WOULD READ US A BIBLE STORY. BUT MOST OF THE TIME WE SLEPT. RIGHT THERE ON THE FLOOR. THEN LATER, WHEN I WAS BI GGER, I HAD TO WORK WITH THE MEN AT NIGHT SHELLING CORN, TO TAKE TO TOWN EARLY M ORNINGS. MARSTER GOFORTH COUNTED HIMSELF A GOOD OLD BAPTIST CHRISTIAN. THE ONE GOOD DEED HE DID, I WILL NEVER FORGET. HE MADE US ALL GO TO CHURCH EVERY SUNDAY. THAT WAS THE ONLY PLACE OFF THE FARM WE EVER WENT. EVERY TIME A SLAVE WENT OFF THE PLACE, HE HAD TO HAVE A PASS, EXCEPT WE DIDN'T FOR CHURCH. EVERYBODY IN THAT COUNTRY KNEW THAT THE GOFORTH NIGGERS DIDN'T HAVE TO HAVE A PASS TO GO TO C HURCH. BUT THAT DIDN'T MAKE NO DIFFERENCE TO THE PATROLLERS. THEY WOULD HIDE IN THE BUSHES, OR WAIT ALONG THE SIDE OF THE ROAD, AND WHEN THE NIGGERS COME FRO M MEETING, THE PATROLLERS WOULD SAY:"WHERE IS YOUR PASS?" US GOFORTH NIGGERS US ED TO START RUNNING SOON AS WE WAS OUT OF CHURCH. WE NEVER GOT CAUGHT. THAT IS WHY I TELL YOU I CAN'T USE MY LEGS LIKE I USED TO. IF YOU WAS CAUGHT WITHOUT A PASS, THE PATROLLERS GAVE YOU FIVE LICKS. THEY WAS LICKS] YOU TAKE A BUNCH OF FIVE TO SEVEN PATROLLERS EACH GIVING FIVE LICKS AND THE BLOOD FLOWS. OLD MARSTER WAS TOO OLD TO GO TO THE WAR. HE HAD ONE SON WHO WAS A SOLDIER , BUT HE NEVER CAME HOME AGAIN. I NEVER SAW A SOLDIER TILL THE WAR WAS OVER AND THEY BEGAN TO COME BACK TO THE FARMS. WE HALF GROWN NIGGERS HAD TO WORK THE FA RM, BECAUSE ALL THE FARMERS HAD TO GIVE, I BELIEVE IT WAS A TENTH OF THEIR CROPS TO HELP FEED THE SOLDIERS. SO WE DIDN'T KNOW NOTHING ABOUT WHAT WAS GOING ON, N O MORE THAN A HOG. IT WAS A LONG TIME BEFORE WE KNEW WE WERE FREE. THEN ONE NI GHT OLD MARSTER CAME TO OUR HOUSE AND HE SAID HE WANTS TO SEE US ALL BEFORE BREAKFAST TOMORROW MORNING AND TO COME ON OVER TO HIS HOUSE. HE GOT SOMETHING TO TELL US. NEXT MORNING WE WENT OVER THERE. I WAS THE MONKEY, ALWAYS ACTING SMART. BU T I BELIEVE THEY LIKED ME BETTER THAN ALL OF THE OTHERS. I JUST SPOKE SASSY $ R ART OUT WITH SOME OTHER PEOPLE, GOING NORTH. WE GO NORTH A WHILE AND THEN TURN WEST, AND CROSS THE SABINE RIVER AND GO TO NACHEDOCHES, TEXAS. ME AND MY BROTHE R JOE AND MY SISTER ADELINE WALKED NEARLY ALL THE WAY, BUT MY LITTLE SISTER HARR E IET AND MY MAMMY RODE IN A WAGON. MAMMY WAS MIGHTY POORLY, AND JUST WHEN WE GOT 3 O3 (ESABINE BOTTOMS SHE HAD ANOTHER BABY. OLD MASTER DID NOT LIKE IT CAUSE I T WAS A GIRL, BUT HE NAMED HER TEXANA ON ACCOUNT OF WHERE SHE WAS BORN AND TOLD US TO TOLD US CHILDREN TO WAIT ON MAMMY GOOD AND MAYBE WE WOULD GET A LITTLE BROTHER N EXT TIME. BUT WE DID NOT. OLD MASTER WENT WI,H A6>+OLE2BUN.HOOF6W SON OUT TO THE PRAIRIE COUNTRY IN CORYELL COUNTY AND SET UP A6FARM6>( EWE JUST HAD TO BREAK THE2 OD jND DID-NOT HAVE O lLEjROFF MUCH. AND THE NEXT BABY MAMMY HAD THE NE XT YEAR WAS A GIRL. WE NAMED HER BETTY BECAUSE MISTRESS JUST HAD A BABY A LITTL E WHILE BEFORE AND ITS NAME WAS BETTY. PRETTY SOON OLD MASTER SAY GET THE WAGONS LOADED AGAIN, jND THS crmE6fE2ST TIME TO LET THE WAGONS GO PAST, ALL LOADED WITH FOLKS GOING TO TEXAS. WATCHING ALL THE CABINS TO SEE NOBODY SLIPS OUT OF THEM. EVERYBODY WAS AFRAID TO STICK THEIR HEAD OUT. EARLY NEXT MORNING WE HAS ALL THE WAGONS REAH GROES JUST LIKE THEY TREATED HIM. HE BEEN TAUGHT THAT THEY WAS JUST LIKE HIS WO RK HORSES, AND IF THEY ACT LIKE THEY HIS WORK HORSES THEY GET ALONG ALL RIGHT. BUT IF THEY DONT OH$ OH$ LIKE THE DIXIE SONG SAY, I WAS BORN ON A FROSTY MORNING AT THE PLANTATION I N CLARKE COUNTY, MISSISSIPPI, IN THE FALL OF 1850 THEY TELL ME. THE OLD PLACE L OOKED THE SAME ALL THE TIME I WAS A CHILD, CLEAN UP TO WHEN WE PULLED OUT AND LE FT THE SECOND YEAR OF THE WAR. I CjN SHUT-MY EYES jND THINK AkOUT IT jND IT2bEn S3 OC O ERIGHT UP IN FRON T OF ME JUST LIKE IT LOOKED. FROM MY PAPPYS CABIN THE BIG HOUSE WAS OFF TO THE WEST, CLOSE TO THE BIG ROAD, AND MOST OF THE FIELDS STRETCHED OFF TO THE NORTH. cHnrE f S&ABBIGPATVH O WOODS OFF TO THE EAST, AND NOT MUCH OPEN LAND BETWEEN US AND THE CHICKASAWHAY RIVER. OFF TO THE SOUTHWEST A FEW MILES WAS THE BUCATUN JUST A LITTLE BOY THAT GOOD PEOPLE AND BAD PEOPLE, MAKES NO DIFFERENCE WHIC H, JUST KEEP ON LIVING AND DOING LIKE THEY BEEN TAUGHT, AND I JUST CANT SEEM TO BLAME THEM NONE FOR WHAT THEY DO IF THEY BEEN TAUGHT THAT WAY. I WAS BORN IN SLAVERY, AND I BELONGED TO A BjPTST-PREACHnR. uNTrLL&I6f S FIFTEEN YEARS OLD I WAS TAUGHT THAT I WAS HIS OWN CHATTEL PROPERTY, AND HE COULD DO WITH ME LIKE HE WANTED TO, BUT HE HAD BEEN TAUGHT THAT WAY TOO, AND WE BOTH BELIEVED IT. I NEVER DID HOLD NOTHING AGAINST HIM FOR BEING HARD ON NEGROE S SOMETIMES, AND I DONT THINK I EVER WOULD HAVE HAD ANY TROUBLE EVEN IF I HAD GR OWN UP AND DIED IN SLAVERY. THE yOuNG-NEpRO S mONTKNOW NOTHING ABOUT THAT TODAY, AND LOTS OF THEM ARE RISING UP AND AMOUNTING TO SOMETHING, AND ALL US NEGROES IS PROUD OF TTHEM. YOU SEE, IT IS BECAUSE THEY HAVE BEEN TAUGHT THAT THEY GOT AS GOOD A SHOW TO BE 9IHAVE ALWAYS BEEN SOMEWHERE IN THE SOUTH, MOSTLY IN TEXAS WHEN I WAS A YOU NG MAN, AND OF COURSE US NEGROES NEVER GOT MUCH OF A SHOW IN COURT MATTERS, BUT I RECKON IF I HAD HAD THE CHANCE TO SIT ON A JURY I WOULD HAVE MADE A MIGHTY POO R OUT AT IT. NO SIR, I JUST CANT SIT IN JUDGMENT ON NOBOHEN9IWAS JUST A LITTLE BOY TA SOMETHING AS ANYBODY, IF THEY TRIES HARD. WELL, THIS OLD NEGRO KNOWS ONE THING. THEY jRE7GETTr G2 OM >(n E&CA E3 (E yOuNG WHITE oO KS jRE-LETTrNG THnM jND HnLPrNG cHnM3 O& OIT, CAUSE THE WHITE FOLKS HAVE BEEN TAUGHT THE SAME WAY, AND I PRAISE GOO IT IS GETTING TO BE THAT W EN WE WOULD BE GOING DOWN THE ROAD WE WOULD HAVE TO WALK ALONG THE SIDE ALL THE NA CREEK, AND THE PLANTATION WAS KIND OF IN THE FORKS BETWEEN THEM, A LITTLE WAY S EAST OF QUITMAN, MISSISSIPPI. PLD MASTERS PEOPLE BEEN LIVING AT THAT PLACE A-MIGHTLONG TIME, AND MOST TH E HOUSES AND BARNS WAS OLD AND BEEN REPAIRED TIME AND TIME AGAIN, BUT IT WAS A M IGHTY PRETTY PLACE. THE BIG HOUSE WAS BUILT LONG, WITH A LOT OF ROOMS ALL IN A ROW AND A LONG PORCH, BUT IT WAS NOT FINE LIKE A LOT OF THE HOUSES WE SAW AS WE PASSED BY WHEN WE LEFT THAT PLACE TO GO TO LOUISIANA. OLD MASTER DID NOT HAVE ANY OVERSEER HIRED, BUT HE AND HIS BOYS LOOKED AFTE R THE PLACE AND HAD A NEGRO WE CALLED THE DRIVER. WE ALL SURE HATED THAT OLD BL ACK MAN, BUT I FORGET HIS NAME NOW. THAT DRIVER NEVER WAS ALLOWED TO THINK UP NOTHING FOR THE SLAVES TO DO, BUT JUST WAS TOLD TO MAKE THEM WORK HARD AT WHAT THE MASTER AND HIS BOYS TOLD THEM TO DO. WHITE FOLKS HAD TO SET THEM AT A JOB A ND THEN OLD DRIVER WOULD WHOOPITY AND WHOOPITY AROUND, AND EGG THEM AND EGG THEM UNTIL THEY FINISHED UP, SO THEY CAN GO AT SOMETHING ELSE. HE wOKED HjRD&Hr SE LF, THOUGH, AND SET A MIGHTY HARD PATTERN FOR THE REST TO KEEP UP WITH. LIKE I SAY, HE BEEN TAUGHT HE DID NOT KNOW HOW TO THINK, SO HE DID NOT TRY. OLD MISTRESS NAME WAS MARY, AND THEY HAD TWO DAUGHTERS,-LEVIA jND2BET, . 3T HEY HAD THREE SONS. THE OLDEST WAS NAMED BILL JUNIOR, AND HE WAS PLUMB GROWN WH EN I WAS A BOY, BUT THE OTHER TWO, JEDSON AND JIM, WAS JUST A LITTLE OLDER THAN ME. OLD MASTER DID NOT HAVE BUT TWO OR THREE SI GLE-N O \,2BUT8HE8HAD2 Eenr L FAMILIES, AND MOST OF THEM WAS BIG ONES. MY OWN FAMrLY W S-PRETTYG OOD2bI (,B UT THREE OF THE CHILDREN WAS BORN FREE. PAPPYS NAME WAS WILLIAM AND MAMMYS WAS LUCY. MY BROTHER JOE WAS THE OLDEST CHILD AND THEN CAME ADELINE, HARRIET, AND T EXANA AND BETTY BEFORE THE SURRENDER, AND THEN HENRY, MATTIE AND LOUISA AFTER IT . 6>HEN ,HE6WAR Cj E j GOLD MASTER JUST DID NOT KNOW WHAT TO DO. HE ALWAYS BEEN TAUGHT NOT TO RAISE HIS HAND UP AND KILL NOBODY, NO MATTER HOW COME, jND H E JUST KEPT HOLDING OUT AGAINST ALL THEM THAT WAS TALKING ABOUT FIGHTING, AND HE WOULD NOT GO AND FIGHT. HE BEEN TAUGHT THAT IT WAS ALL R!HT O8HAVESLAVES AN D TREAT THEM LIKE HE WANT TO, BUT HE BEEN TAUGHT IT WAS SINFUL TO GO FIGHT AND K ILL TO KEEP THEM, AND HE LIVED UP TO WHAT HE BEEN TAUGHT. THEY WAS SOME CHOCTAW PEOPLE-LIVED jROuND THnRE, jND THEY&ol W PAND WENT RIGHT OFF TO THE WAT, AND MISTER TROT HAND AND MISTER JOE BROWN THAT HAD PLANTAT IONS ON THE BIG ROAD TOWARDS QUITMAN BOTH WENT OFF WITH THEIR GROWN BOYS RIGHT A T THE START, BUT OLD MASTER WAS A PREACHER AND HE JUST STAYED OUT OF IT. I REMEMBER ONE DAY I WAS SENT UP TO THE BIG HOUSE AND I HEARD OLD MASTER AND SOM E MEN OUT AT THE GATE EXPOUNDING ABOUT THE WAR. SOME OF THE MEN HAD ON SOLDIERS lLOTHES, AND THEY ACTED LIKE THEY WAS-MAD. 2sOM kODY TnLLME LATER ON THAT THEY WAS GETTING UP A HOME GUARD BECAUSE THE YANKEES DONE GOT DOWN IN jLABjMA- OT FAR AWAY, BUT OLD MASTER WOULD NOT GO IN WITH THEM. W;, ,HREE DAYS AFTER THA,, IT SEEMS IK(,6OLD MAST R2SA E O N3 O3,(E QUARTERS AND SAY GET EVERYTHING BUNDLED UP AND IN THE WAGONS, FOR A LONG TRIP. THE NEGROES ALL CAME IN AND EVERYBODY PITCHED IN TO HELP PACK UP THE WAGONS. THEN OLD MASTER LOOKED AROUND AND HE CANT FIND ANDY. ANDY WAS ONE NEGRO THAT NE VER DID ACT LIKE HE BEEN TAUGHT, AND OLD MASTERS PATIENCE ABOUT WORE OUT WITH HI M ANUWAYS. WE ALL KNEW THAT ANDY DONE RUN OFF AGAIN, BUT WE DID NOT K OW6>H RE ;. E ASTWISE ALL THE NEGROES TELL OLD MASTER THAT. BUT OLD MASTER SOO SHOWED US WE D ONE THE WORK AND HE DONE THE THINKING$ HE JUST GOES AHEAD AND KEEPS ALL THE NEG ROES BUSY FIXING UP THE WAGONS AND BUNDLING UP THE STUFF TO TRAVEL, AND KEEPS US ALL IN HIS SIGHT ALL THE TIME, AND SAYS NOTHING A OUT AN