Violet Shaw
From:
Arkansas
Interviewer: Miss Irene Robertson
Person interviewed: Violet Shaw, West Memphis, Arkansas
Age: 50
"I heard Grandma Katie Williams say she was put up on a high stump and
auctioned off. She told how great-grandma cried and cried and never
seen her no more. Grandma come from Oakland, Tennessee to Mississippi.
Grandma took the two young children and left the other two with
great-grandma. They took her from her husband. She never seen none of
them again.
"After freedom she didn't know how to find them. She never could get
trace of them. She tried. She never married no more. I was born at
Clarksdale, Mississippi. I have seen Tom Pernell (white), the young
master, come and spend the night with Henry Pernell. Henry had once been
Tom's father's slave and carriage driver. I was too small to know the
cause but I remember that several times mighty well. They fixed him up a
clean bed by hisself. Henry lived in town. But he might have been drunk.
I never seen no misbehavior out of him. It was strange to me to see
that.
"Freedom--Aunt Mariah Jackson was freed at Dublin, Mississippi. She said
she was out in the field working. A great big white man come, jumped
up on a log and shouted, 'Freedom! Freedom!' They let the log they was
toting down; six, three on a side, had holt of a hand stick toting a
long heavy log. They was clearing up new ground. He told them they was
free. They went to the house. They cooked and et and thanked God. Some
got down and prayed, some sung. They had a time that day. They got the
banjo and fiddle and set out playing. Some got in the big road just
walking. She said they had a time that day."
Next:
Frederick Shelton
Previous:
Mary Shaw
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