Aunt Minerva Lofton
From:
Arkansas
Interviewer: Thomas Elmore Lucy
Person interviewed: "Aunt Minerva" Lofton
Russellville, Arkansas
Age: 69
"Come in! Yes, my name's Minerva Lofton--at least it was yistiddy.
Now, whatcha gonna ask me? Hope you ain't saying something that'll git
me in bad. Don't want to git in any more trouble. Hard times' bad
enough.
"I was born in the country nine miles from Clarendon, Monroe County,
December 3, 1869. Father died before I was born. My mother came from
Virginia, and her mistress' name was Bettie Clark. They lived close to
Richmond, and people used to say 'Blue Ridge,' so I think it was Blue
Ridge County, Virginia. Mother was sold to Henry
Cargile--C-a-r-g-i-l-e.
"When they were expecting peace to be declared soon a lot of the
colored people named Parks took many of the slaves to Texas to escape
from the Yankees, but when they got to Corpus Christi they found the
Yankee soldiers there just the same, so they came back to Arkansas. I
sure used to laugh at my dear old mother when she'd tell about the
long trip to Corpus Christi, and things that happened on the way. They
stopped over at Camden as they went through, and one of the colored
gals who hated her played a prank on her to take out her spite on
mother: They had stopped at a dairyman's home near Camden, and she
sent my mother in to get a gallon of buttermilk. After drinking all
she could hold she grabbed mother by the hair of the head and churned
her up and down in the buttermilk till it streamed down her face, and
on her clothes--a sight to behold. I laughed and laughed until my
sides ached when mother told me about this.
"Old mistis' name (that is, one of the old mistis') was Bettie Young,
and my mother was named Bettie for her; she was a namesake--sort of a
wedding present, I think.
"I've been a member of the Pentecostal church for nineteen years.
"No sir, I never have voted and never expect to. Why? Because I have a
religious opinion about votin'. I think a woman should not vote; her
place is in the home raising her family and attending to the household
duties. We have raised only two boys (stepchildren)--had no children
of our own--but I have decided ideas about women runnin' around among
and votin'. When I see em settin' around the ballot box at the polls,
sometimes with a cigarette in their mouths, and again slingin' out a
'damn' or two, I want to slap em good and hard.
"Yes, the old time religious songs--I sure remember some of them! Used
to be able to sing lots of em, but have forgotten the words of many.
Let's see:
'I'm a-goin' to tell my Lord, Daniel in de lion's den;
I'm a-goin' to tell my Lord, I'm a-goin' to tell my Lord,
Daniel in de lion's den.'
Here's another:
'Big bells a-ringin' in de army of de Lord;
Big bells a-ringin' in de army.
I'm so glad I'm in de army of de Lord;
My soul's a-shoutin' in de army.'
"Modern youth? Humph! I think they are just a fulfilling of what
Christ said: 'They shall grow wiser as they grow older, but weaker.'
Where is it in the Scripture? Wait a minute and I'll look it up. Now,
let's see--where was that passage? It says 'weaker' here and 'weaken'.
Never mind--wait--I'll find it. Well, anyway, I don't know jest how to
describe this generation. I heard a white woman once say that she had
to do a little cussin' to make herself understood. 'Cussin'?' Why,
'cussin'' is jist a polite word for it.
"Good-bye, mister. You oughta thank the Lawd you've got a job!"
Next:
Robert Lofton
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William Little
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