“Ouah mammy neber ’lowed de old folks to tell us chilluns sceery stories o’ hants an’ sich lik’ so der’s nun foah me to ’member.”

“Travelin’ wuz rather slo’ lik.  De only way wuz in ox-carts or on hoss back.  We all didn’t hay much time fer travelin’.  Our Marse wuz too good to think ‘bout runnin’ ’way.”

“Nun my fam’ly cud read er write.  I lurned to read an write aftah I cum up Norf to Ohio.  Dat wuz biggest thing I ebber tackled, but it made me de happies’ aftah I learn’t.”

“We all went to Sunday School an’ meetin’.  Yes mam, we had to wurk on Sundays, too, if we did hav any spare time, we went visit in’.  On Saturday nights we had big time foah der wuz mos’ all’us dancin’ an’ we’d dance long as de can’les lasted.  Can’les wuz all we had any time fur light.”

“I ’member one de neighbah boys tried to run ‘way an’ de patrollahs got ‘im an’ fetched ‘im back an’ he shure dun got a wallopin’ fer it.  Dat dun tuk any sich notion out my head.  Dem patrollahs dun keep us skeered to deaf all de time.  One, Henry Jones, runned off and went cleah up Norf sum place an’ dey neber did git ’im.  ’Course we all wuz shure powahful glad ’bout his ’scapin’.”

“We’se neber ’lowed out de cabin at night.  But sum times de oldah ’uns wud sneak out at night an’tak de hosses an’ tak a leetle ride.  An’ man it wud bin jes’ too bad if ol’ Marse John ketched ’em:  dat wuz shure heaps o’ fun fer de kids.  I ‘member hearin’ wunce de ol’ folks talkin’ ‘bout de way one Marse dun sum black boys dat dun sumthin’ wrong.  He jes’ mak ’em bite off de heads o’ baccer wurms; mysef I’d ruther tuk a lickin.”

“On Christmus Day, we’d git fiah crackahs an’ drink brandy, dat wuz all.  Dat day wuz only one we didn’t wurk.  On Saturday evenin’s we’d mold candles, dat wuzn’t so bad.”

“De happies’ time o’ my life wuz when Cap’n Tipton, a Yankee soljer cumed an’ tol’ us de wah wuz ober an’ we wuz free.  Cap’n.  Tipton sez, “Youse de boys we dun dis foah”.  We shure didn’t lose no time gittin’ ’way; no man.”

“We went to Lewisburg an’ den up to Cha’leston by wagon an’ den tuk de guvment boat, Genrul Crooks, an’ it brung us heah to Gallipolis in 1865.  Dat Ohio shoah shure looked prutty.”

“I’se shure thankful to Mr. Lincoln foah whut he dun foah us folks, but dat Jeff Davis, well I ain’t sayin’ whut I’se thinkin’.”

“De is jes’ like de worl’, der is lots o’ good an’ lots o’ bad in it.”

WPA in Ohio Federal Writers’ Project

Topic:  Ex-Slavery
Jefferson Co, District #2

Fleming Clark
Ex-Slave, 74+ in years

My father’s name wuz Fleming Clark and my mother’s name wuz Emmaline Clark.  Both of dem wuz in slavery.  Der massa’s name wuz David Bowers.  I don’t know where dey cum from but dey moved to Bad Creek after slavery days.