Augustus Robinson
From:
Arkansas
Interviewer: Samuel S. Taylor
Person interviewed: Augustus Robinson
2500 W. Tenth Street, Little Rock, Arkansas
Age: 78
"I was born in Calhoun County, Arkansas in 1860, January 15th. I am
going according to what my daddy told me and nothing else. That is all I
could do.
How the Children Were Fed
"My grandmother on my mother's side said when I was a little fellow that
she was a cook and that she would bring stuff up to the cabin where the
little niggers were locked up and feed them through the crack. She would
hide it underneath her apron. She wasn't supposed to do it. All the
little niggers were kept in one house when the old folks were working in
the field. There were six or seven of us.
Sold
"My daddy was a white man, my master. His wife was so mean to me that my
master sold me to keep her from beating me and kicking me and knocking
me 'round. She would have killed me if she could have got the chance. He
[HW: My daddy] sold me to a preacher who raised me as though I were his
own son. Whenever he sat down to the table to eat, I sat down. He made
no difference at all. He raised me in El Dorado, Arkansas. His name was
James Goodwin. He sent me to school too.
Visited by Father
"When Harrison and Cleveland ran for President, my [HW: white] father
came to Little Rock. Some colored people had been killed in the campaign
fights, and he had been summoned to Little Rock to make some statements
in connection with the trouble. He stopped at a prominent hotel and had
me to come to see him. When I went up to the hotel to meet him, there
were a dozen or more white men at that place. When I shook hands with
him, he said, 'Gentlemen, he's a little shady but he's my son.' His name
was Captain I.T. Robinson. He lived in Lisbon, Arkansas.
Mother
"My mother's name was Frances Goodwin. She belonged to Captain Robinson.
I don't know but I think that when they came to Arkansas, they came from
Georgia. They were refugees. When the War started, people that owned
niggers ran from state to state to try to hold their niggers.
House
"I lived right in the yard. We had four houses in the yard and three of
them was made of logs and one was made out of one-by-twelve planks. I
lived in the one made out of planks. It had one big room. I reckon it
was about twenty by fifteen, more than that, I reckon. It was a big
room. There [HW: were] two doors and no windows. We had old candlesticks
for lights. We had old homemade tables. All food was kept in the
smokehouse and the pantry. The food house and the smokehouse were two of
the log cabins in the yard.
Schooling
"Goodwin schooled me. [TR: First sentence lined out.] He had a teacher
to come right on the place and stay there teaching. He raised me and
brought me up just as though I was his own child.
"I remember getting one whipping. I didn't get it from Mr. Goodwin
though. His brother gave it to me. His brother sent me to get a horse.
An old hound was laying in the way on the saddle and the bridle. He
wouldn't move so I picked up the bridle and hit him with it. He hollered
and master's brother heard him and gave me a whipping. That is the only
whipping I ever got when I was small.
Ku Klux
"I heard of the Ku Klux Klan but I don't know that I ever seen them. I
never noticed what effect they had on the colored people. I just heard
people talking about them.
Occupational Experiences
"The first work I did was farming--after the War. I farmed,--down close
to El Dorado, about six miles away from there. I kept that up till I was
about seventeen or eighteen years old or somewheres about there. That
was on James Goodwin's place--my last master, the man who raised me.
Then I left him and came to Little Rock. I don't remember in what year.
I went to school here in Little Rock. I had already had some schooling.
My grandmother sent me. The school I went to was called the Union
School. It was down on Sixth Street. After I left there, I went to
Capitol Hill School. I was going to school during the Brooks-Baxter War.
The statehouse was on Markham Street and Center. My grandmother's name
was Celie Robinson. She went by the name of her owner.
"After I had gone to school several years--I don't remember just how
many--I worked down town about ten or eleven years. Then I went to
railroading. First I was with the Iron Mountain and Southern. Later, it
changed its name to the Missouri Pacific. I worked for them from 1891
to 1935. On August 29th I received my last pay check. I have tried ever
since to get my railroad pension to which my years of service entitle me
but have been unable to get it. The law concerning the pension seems to
have passed on the same day I received my last check, and although I
worked for forty-four years and gave entire satisfaction, there has been
a disposition to keep me from the pension. While in service I had my
jaw broken in two pieces and four front teeth knocked out by a piece of
flying steel.
"Another man was handling the steam hammer. I was standing at my regular
place doing my regular work. When that happened, I was cut down like
a weed. There wasn't a man ever thought they would see me in that job
again after that piece of steel cut me down.
"Also, I lost my right eye in the service when a hot cinder from the
furnace flew in it while I was doing my regular work. Then I was
ruptured because of the handling of heavy pieces of iron at my work. I
still wear the truss. You can see the places where my jaw was broke and
you can see where my teeth were knocked out.
"Out of all the ups and downs, I stuck to the company just the same
until they retired me in 1935 because of old age. The retirement board
wanted to know when I asked for a pension, why did I think I was
entitled to a pension? I told them because I had been injured through
service with the company and had honorably finished so long a period of
service. It is now admitted that I am eligible to a railroad pension but
there seems to still be a delay in paying it for some reason or other.
Support Now
"I get a little assistance from the Welfare, and I get some commodities.
If it wasn't for that, I would be broke up."
[HW: Brooks-Baxter War was about 1872-74.]
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Malindy Robinson
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George Robertson
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