Alfred Farrell, Field Worker
Monticello, Florida
January 12, 1937

MATILDA BROOKS

A GOVERNOR’S SLAVES

Matilda Brooks, 79, who lives in Monticello, Fla., was once a slave of a South Carolina governor.

Mrs. Brooks was born in 1857 or 1858 in Edgefield, S.C.  Her parents were Hawkins and Harriet Knox, and at the time of the birth of their daughter were slaves on a large plantation belonging to Governor Frank Pickens.  On this plantation were raised cotton, corn, potatoes, tobacco, peas, wheat and truck products.  As soon as Matilda was large enough to go into the fields she helped her parents with the farming.

The former slave describes Governor Pickens as being ‘very good’ to his slaves.  He supervised them personally, although official duties often made this difficult.  He saw to it that their quarters were comfortable and that they always had sufficient food.  When they became ill he would himself doctor on them with pills, castor oil, turpentine other remedies.  Their diet consisted largely of potatoes, corn bread, syrup, greens, peas, and occasionally ham, fowl and other meats or poultry.  Their chief beverage was coffee made from parched corn.

Since there were no stoves during slavery, they cooked their foods in large iron pots suspended from racks built into the fireplaces.  Fried foods were prepared in iron ‘spiders’, large frying pans with legs.  These pans were placed over hot coals, and the seasoning was done with salt which they secured from evaporated sea-water.  After the food was fried and while the coals were still glowing the fat of oxen and sheep was melted to make candles.  Any grease left over was put into a large box, to be used later for soap-making.

Lye for the soap was obtained by putting oak ashes in a barrel and pouring water over them.  After standing for several days—­until the ashes had decayed—­holes were drilled into the bottom of the barrell and the liquid drained off.  This liquid was the lye, and it was then trickled into the pot into which the fat had been placed.  The two were then boiled, and after cooling cut into squares of soap.

Water for cooking and other purposes was obtained from a well, which also served as a refrigerator at times.  Matilda does not recall seeing ice until many years later.

In the evenings Matilda’s mother would weave cloth on her spinning-jenny and an improvised loom.  This cloth was sometimes dyed in various colors:  blue from the indigo plant; yellow from the crocus and brown from the bark of the red oak.  Other colors were obtained from berries and other plants.

In seasons other than picking-time for the cotton the children were usually allowed to play in the evenings, when cotton crops were large, however, they spent their evenings picking out seeds from the cotton bolls, in order that their parents might work uninterruptedly in the fields during the day.  The cotton, after being picked and separated, would be weighed in balances and packed tightly in ‘crocus’ bags.