Susan Matthews
From:
Georgia
Works Progress Administration
Harry L. Hopkins, Administrator
Ellen S. Woodward, Assistant Administrator
Henry S. Alsberg, Director of the Federal Writers' Project
PLANTATION LIFE
Interview with:
SUSAN MATTHEWS, Age 84
Madison Street,
Macon, Georgia
Written by:
Ruth H. Sanford,
Macon, Georgia
Edited by:
Annie A. Rose,
Macon, Georgia
Susan Matthews is an intelligent old negress, very tall and weighing
close to two hundred pounds. Her eyes were bright, her "store-bought"
teeth flashed in a smile as she expressed her willingness to tell us all
she remembered "'bout ole times." In a tattered, faded print dress, a
misshapen hat and ragged shoes, she sat enjoying the sunshine on the
porch while she sewed on an underskirt she was making for herself from
old sugar sacks. Her manner was cheerful; she seemed to get genuine
enjoyment from the interview and gave us a hearty invitation to come to
see her again.
"I was jes a chile" she began, "when de white folks had slaves. My ma an
her chillen wuz the onliest slaves my marster and mistis had. My pa
belonged to some mo white folks that lived 'bout five miles from us. My
marster and mistis were poor folks. They lived in a white frame house;
it wuz jes a little house that had 'bout five rooms, I reckon. The house
had a kitchen in the backyard and the house my ma lived wuz in the back
yard too, but I wuz raised in my mistis' house. I slept in her room;
slep' on the foot of her bed to keep her feets warm and everwhere my
mistis went I went to. My marster and mistis wuz sho good to us an we
loved 'em. My ma, she done the cooking and the washing fer the family
and she could work in the fields jes lak a man. She could pick her three
hundred pounds of cotton or pull as much fodder as any man. She wuz
strong an she had a new baby mos' ev'y year. My marster and Mistis liked
for to have a lot of chillen 'cause that helped ter make 'em richer."
I didn't have much time fer playin' when I wus little cause I wuz allus
busy waitin' on my mistis er taking care of my little brothers and
sisters. But I did have a doll to play with. It wuz a rag doll an my
mistis made it fer me. I wuz jes crazy 'bout that doll and I learned how
to sew making clothes fer it. I'd make clothes fer it an wash an iron
'em, and it wasn't long 'fo I knowed how to sew real good, an I been
sewing ever since.
My white folks wern't rich er tall but we always had plenty of somep'n
to eat, and we had fire wood to keep us warm in winter too. We had
plenty of syrup and corn bread, and when dey killed a hog we had fine
sausage an chitlin's, an all sorts of good eating. My marster and the
white an collored boys would go hunting, and we had squirrels an rabbits
an possums jes lots of time. Yessum, we had plenty; we never did go
hongry.
"Does I remember 'bout the Yankees coming?, Yes ma'am, I sho does. The
white chillen an us had been looking fer 'em and looking fer 'em. We
wanted 'em to come. We knowed 'twould be fun to see 'em. And sho 'nuf
one day I was out in de front yard to see and I seed a whole passel of
men in blue coats coming down de road. I hollered "Here come de
Yankees". I knowed 'twuz dem an my mistis an my ma an ev'y body come out
in the front yard to see 'em. The Yankees stopped an the leading man
with the straps on his shoulders talked to us an de men got water outen
de well. No'm, they didn't take nothing an they hurt nothing. After a
while they jes went on down the road; they sho looked hot an dusty an
tired.
"After de war wuz over my pa, he comed up to our house an got my ma an
all us chillen an carries us down to his marster's place. I didn't want
ter go cause I loved my mistis an she cried when we left. My pa's ole
marster let him have some land to work on shares. My pa wuz a hard
worker an we helped him an in a few years he bought a little piece of
land an he owned it till he died. 'Bout once er twice a year we'd all go
back ter see our mistis. She wuz always glad to see us an treated us
fine.
"After de war a white woman started a school fer nigger chillen an my pa
sent us. This white lady wuz a ole maid an wuz mighty poor. She an her
ma lived by dereselves, I reckon her pa had done got kilt in de war. I
don't know 'bout that but I knows they wuz mighty poor an my pa paid her
fer teaching us in things to eat from his farm. We didn't never have no
money. I loved to go to school; I had a blue back speller an I learned
real quick but we didn't get ter go all the time. When there wuz work
ter do on the farm we had ter stop an do it.
"Times warn't no better after de war wuz over an dey warnt no wuss. We
wuz po before de war an we wuz po after de war. But we allus had somep'n
to wear and plenty to eat an we never had no kick coming.
"I never did get married. I'se a old maid nigger, an they tells me you
don't see old maid niggers. How come I ain't married I don't know. Seems
like when I was young I seed somep'n wrong with all de mens that would
come around. Then atter while I wuz kinder ole an they didn't come
around no mo. Jes' last week a man come by here what used to co't me. He
seed me settin here on the porch an I says 'Come on in an set a while',
an he did. So maybe, I ain't through co'tin, maybe I'll get married
yet." Here she laughed gleefully.
When asked which she preferred freedom or slavery she replied, "Well,
being free wuz all right while I wuz young but now I'm old an I wish I
b'longed to somebody cause they would take keer of me an now I ain't got
nobody to take keer of me. The government gives me eight dollars a month
but that don't go fer enough. I has er hard time cause I can't git
around an work like I used to."
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Emily Mays
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Aunt Carrie Mason
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