[HW:  Atlanta Dist. 5 Driskell]

THE EXPERIENCE OF GEORGE EASON IN SLAVERY TIME [MAY 8 1937]

Mr. George Eason was born in Forsyth, Ga., on the plantation of Mr. Jack Ormond.  In addition to himself there were six other children, one of whom was his twin brother.  He and his brother were the oldest members of this group of children.  His mother, who was the master’s cook, had always belonged to the Ormond family while his father belonged to another family, having been sold while he (George) was still a baby.

It so happened that Mr. Ormond was a wealthy planter and in addition to the plantation that he owned in the country, he also maintained a large mansion in the town.

The first few years of his life were spent in town where he helped his mother in the kitchen by attending to the fire, getting water, etc.  He was also required to look after the master’s horse.  Unlike most other slave owners who allowed their house servants to sleep in the mansion, Mr. Ormond had several cabins built a short distance in the rear of his house to accommodate those who were employed in the house.  This house group consisted of the cook, seamstress, maid, butler, and the wash woman.  Mr. Eason and those persons who held the above positions always had good food because they got practically the same thing that was served to the master and his family.  They all had good clothing—­the women’s dresses being made of calico, and the butler’s suits of good grade cloth, the particular kind of which Mr. Eason knows nothing about.  He himself wore a one-piece garment made of crocus.

Mr. Eason was about 7 or 8 years of age when he was first sent to work in the field.  It was then that his troubles began.  He says that he was made to get up each morning at sun-up and that after going to the field he had to toil there all day until the sun went down.  He and his fellow slaves had to work in all types of weather, good as well as bad.  Although the master or the overseer were not as cruel as some he had heard of they tolerated no looseness of work and in case a person was suspected of loafing the whip was applied freely.  Although he was never whipped, he has heard the whip being applied to his mother any number of times.  It hurt him, he says, because he had to stand back unable to render any assistance whatever. (This happened before he was sent to the plantation.) When his mother got these whippings she always ran off afterwards and hid in the woods which were nearby.  At night she would slip to the cabin to get food and while there would caution him and the other children not to tell the master that they had seen her.  The master’s wife who was very mean was always the cause of her receiving these lashings.

Some nights after he and the other slaves had left the field they were required to do extra work such as ginning cotton and shelling peas and corn, etc.  The young women were required to work that in some respects was as hard as that the men did, while the older women usually did lighter work.  When the time came to pick the cotton all hands were converted into pickers.  Night was the only time that they had to do their washing and to cultivate the small gardens they were allowed to have.