Mack Mullen’s mother was named Ellen and his father Sam.  Ellen was “house woman” and Sam did the blacksmithing, Ellen personally attended Mrs. Snellings, the master’s wife.  Mack being quite young did not have any particular duties assigned to him, but stayed around the Snellings mansion and played.  Sometimes “marster” Snellings would take him on his knee and talk to him.  Mack remembers that he often told him that some day he was going to be a noble man.  He said that he was going to make him the head overseer.  He would often give him candy and money and take him in his buggy for a ride.

Plantation Life:  The slaves lived in cabins called quarters, which were constructed of lumber and logs.  A white man was their overseer, he assigned the slaves their respective tasks.  There was also a slave known as a “caller.”  He came around to the slave cabins every morning at four o’clock and blew a “cow-horn” which was the signal for the slaves to get up and prepare themselves for work in the fields.

All of them on hearing this horn would arise and prepare their meal; by six o’clock they were on their way to the fields.  They would work all day, stopping only for a brief period at midday to eat.  Mack Mullen says that some of the most beautiful spirituals were sung while they labored.

The women wore towels wrapped around their heads for protection from the sun, and most of them smoked pipes.  The overseer often took Mack with him astride his horse as he made his “rounds” to inspect the work being done.  About sundown, the “cow-horn” of the caller was blown and all hands stopped work, and made their way back to their cabins.  One behind the other they marched singing “I’m gonna wait ’til Jesus Comes.”  After arriving at their cabins they would prepare their meals; after eating they would sometimes gather in front of a cabin and dance to the tunes played on the fiddle and the drum.  The popular dance at that time was known as the “figure dance.”  At nine p.m. the overseer would come around; everything was supposed to be quiet at that hour.  Some of the slaves would “turn in” for the night while others would remain up as long as they wished or as long as they were quiet.

The slaves were sometimes given special holidays and on those days they would give “quilting” parties (quilt making) and dances.  These parties were sometimes held on their own plantation and sometimes on a neighboring one.  Slaves who ordinarily wanted to visit another plantation had to get a permit from the master.  If they were caught going off the plantation without a permit, they were severely whipped by the “patrolmen” (white men especially assigned to patrol duty around the plantation to prevent promiscuous wandering from plantations and “runaways.”)

Whipping:  There was a white man assigned only to whip the slaves when they were insubordinate; however, they were not allowed to whip them too severely as “Marster” Snellings would not permit it.  He would say “a slave is of no use to me beaten to death.”