Henry Bobbitt
From:
North Carolina
N. C. District: No. 2 [320190]
Worker: Mary A. Hicks
No. Words: 793
Subject: Ex-Slave Story
Story Teller: Henry Bobbitt
Editor: Daisy Bailey Waitt
[TR: No Date Stamp]
EX-SLAVE STORIES
An interview with Henry Bobbitt, 87 of Raleigh, Wake County N. C. May 13,
1937 by Mary A. Hicks.
I wuz borned at Warrenton in Warren County in 1850. My father wuz named
Washington, atter General Washington an' my mamma wuz named Diasia atter
a woman in a story. Us an' 'bout forty or fifty other slaves belonged
ter Mr. Richard Bobbitt an' we wucked his four hundred acres o' land fer
him. I jist had one brother named Clay, atter Henry Clay, which shows
how Massa Dick voted, an' Delilah, which shows dat ole missus read de
Bible.
We farmed, makin' tobacco, cotton, co'n, wheat an' taters. Massa Dick
had a whole passel o' fine horses an' our Sunday job wuz ter take care
of 'em, an' clean up round de house. Yes mam, we wucked seben days a
week, from sunup till sundown six days, an' from seben till three or
four on a Sunday.
We didn't have many tear-downs an' prayer meetin's an' sich, case de
fuss sturbed ole missus who wuz kinder sickly. When we did have sompin'
we turned down a big wash-pot in front of de do', an' it took up de fuss,
an' folkses in de yard can't hyar de fuss. De patterollers would git
you iffen you went offen de premises widout a pass, an' dey said dat dey
would beat you scandelous. I seed a feller dat dey beat onct an' he had
scars as big as my fingers all ober his body.
I got one whuppin' dat I 'members, an' dat wuz jist a middlin' one. De
massa told me ter pick de cotton an' I sot down in de middle an' didn't
wuck a speck. De oberseer come an' he frailed me wid a cotton-stalk; he
wuz a heap meaner ter de niggers dan Massa Dick wuz. I saw some niggers
what wuz beat bad, but I ain't neber had no bad beatin'.
We libed in log houses wid sand floors an' stick an' dirt chimneys an'
we warn't 'lowed ter have no gyarden, ner chickens, ner pigs. We ain't
had no way o' makin' money an' de fun wuz only middlin'. We had ter
steal what rabbits we et from somebody elses [TR correction: else's]
boxes on some udder plantation, case de massa won't let us have none o'
our own, an' we ain't had no time ter hunt ner fish.
Now talkin' 'bout sompin' dat we'd git a whuppin' fer, dat wuz fer
havin' a pencil an' a piece of paper er a slate. Iffen you jist looked
lak you wanted ter larn ter read er write you got a lickin'.
Dar wuz two colored women lived nigh us an' dey wuz called "free
issues," but dey wuz really witches. I ain't really seen 'em do nothin'
but I hyard a whole lot 'bout 'em puttin' spells on folkses an' I seed
tracks whar day had rid Massa Dick's hosses an' eber mo'nin' de hosses
manes an' tails would be all twisted an' knotted up. I know dat dey done
dat case I seed it wid my own eyes. Dey doctored lots of people an' our
folkses ain't neber had no doctor fer nothin' dat happen.
You wuz axin' 'bout de slave sales, an' I want ter tell you dat I has
seen some real sales an' I'se seed niggers, whole bunches of' em, gwin'
ter Richmond ter be sold. Dey wuz mostly chained, case dey wuz new ter
de boss, an' he doan know what ter 'spect. I'se seed some real sales in
Warrenton too, an' de mammies would be sold from deir chilluns an' dare
would be a whole heap o' cryin' an' mou'nin' 'bout hit. I tell you
folkses ain't lak dey uster be, 'specially niggers. Uster be when a
nigger cries he whoops an' groans an' hollers an' his whole body rocks,
an' dat am de way dey done sometime at de sales.
Speakin' 'bout haints: I'se seed a whole lot o' things, but de worst
dat eber happen wuz 'bout twenty years ago when a han'ts hand hit me
side o' de haid. I bet dat hand weighed a hundred pounds an' it wuz as
cold as ice. I ain't been able ter wuck fer seben days an' nights an' I
still can't turn my haid far ter de left as you sees.
I reckon 'bout de funniest thing 'bout our plantation wuz de
marryin'. A couple got married by sayin' dat dey wuz, but it couldn't
last fer longer dan five years. Dat wuz so iffen one of 'em got too
weakly ter have chilluns de other one could git him another wife or
husban'.
I 'members de day moughty well when de Yankees come. Massa Dick he
walked de floor an' cussed Sherman fer takin' his niggers away. All o'
de niggers lef', of course, an' me, I walked clean ter Raleigh ter find
out if I wuz really free, an' I couldn't unnerstan' half of it.
Well de first year I slept in folkses woodhouses an' barns an' in de
woods or any whar else I could find. I wucked hyar an' dar, but de
folkses' jist give me sompin' ter eat an' my clothes wuz in strings'
fore de spring o' de year.
Yo' axes me what I thinks of Massa Lincoln? Well, I thinks dat he wuz
doin' de wust thing dat he could ter turn all dem fool niggers loose
when dey ain't got no place ter go an' nothin' ter eat. Who helped us
out den? Hit wuzn't de Yankees, hit wuz de white folkses what wuz left
wid deir craps in de fiel's, an' wuz robbed by dem Yankees, ter boot. My
ole massa, fur instance, wuz robbed uv his fine hosses an' his feed
stuff an' all dem kaigs o' liquor what he done make hisself, sides his
money an' silver.
Slavery wuz a good thing den, but de world jist got better an'
outgrowed it.
EH
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Herndon Bogan
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Clay Bobbit
