Celestia Avery
From:
Georgia
[HW: Dist. 5
Ex Slave #1
Ross]
"A FEW FACTS OF SLAVERY"
As Told by CELESTIA AVERY--EX-SLAVE
[MAY 8 1937]
Mrs. Celestia Avery is a small mulatto woman about 5 ft. in height. She
has a remarkably clear memory in view of the fact that she is about 75
years of age. Before the interview began she reminded the writer that
the facts to be related were either told to her by her grandmother,
Sylvia Heard, or were facts which she remembered herself.
Mrs. Avery was born 75 years ago in Troupe County, LaGrange, Ga. the
eighth oldest child of Lenora and Silas Heard. There were 10 other
children beside herself. She and her family were owned by Mr. & Mrs.
Peter Heard. In those days the slaves carried the surname of their
master; this accounted for all slaves having the same name whether they
were kin or not.
The owner Mr. Heard had a plantation of about 500 acres and was
considered wealthy by all who knew him. Mrs. Avery was unable to give
the exact number of slaves on the plantation, but knew he owned a large
number. Cotton, corn, peas, potatoes, (etc.) were the main crops raised.
The homes provided for the slaves were two room log cabins which had one
door and one window. These homes were not built in a group together but
were more or less scattered over the plantation. Slave homes were very
simple and only contained a home made table, chair and bed which were
made of the same type of wood and could easily be cleaned by scouring
with sand every Saturday. The beds were bottomed with rope which was run
backward and forward from one rail to the other. On this framework was
placed a mattress of wheat straw. Each spring the mattresses were
emptied and refilled with fresh wheat straw.
Slaves were required to prepare their own meals three times a day. This
was done in a big open fire place which was filled with hot coals. The
master did not give them much of a variety of food, but allowed each
family to raise their own vegetables. Each family was given a hand out
of bacon and meal on Saturdays and through the week corn ash cakes and
meat; which had been broiled on the hot coals was the usual diet found
in each home. The diet did not vary even at Christmas only a little
fruit was added.
Each family was provided with a loom and in Mrs. Avery's family, her
grandmother, Sylvia Heard, did most of the carding and spinning of the
thread into cloth. The most common cloth for women clothes was homespun,
and calico. This same cloth was dyed and used to make men shirts and
pants. Dye was prepared by taking a berry known as the shumake berry and
boiling them with walnut peelings. Spring and fall were the seasons for
masters to give shoes and clothing to their slaves. Both men and women
wore brogan shoes, the only difference being the piece in the side of
the womens.
One woman was required to do the work around the house there was also
one slave man required to work around the house doing odd jobs. Other
than these two every one else was required to do the heavy work in the
fields. Work began at "sun up" and lasted until "sun down". In the
middle of the day the big bell was rung to summon the workers from the
field, for their mid-day lunch. After work hours slaves were then free
to do work around their own cabins, such as sewing, cooking (etc.)
"Once a week Mr. Heard allowed his slaves to have a frolic and folks
would get broke down from so much dancing" Mrs. Avery remarked. The
music was furnished with fiddles. When asked how the slaves came to own
fiddles she replied, "They bought them with money they earned selling
chickens." At night slaves would steal off from the Heard plantation, go
to LaGrange, Ga. and sell chickens which they had raised. Of course the
masters always required half of every thing raised by each slave and it
was not permissible for any slave to sell anything. Another form of
entertainment was the quilting party. Every one would go together to
different person's home on each separate night of the week and finish
that person's quilts. Each night this was repeated until every one had a
sufficient amount of covering for the winter. Any slave from another
plantation, desiring to attend these frolics, could do so after securing
a pass from their master.
Mrs. Avery related the occasion when her Uncle William was caught off
the Heard plantation without a pass, and was whipped almost to death by
the "Pader Rollers." He stole off to the depths of the woods here he
built a cave large enough to live in. A few nights later he came back to
the plantation unobserved and carried his wife and two children back to
this cave where they lived until after freedom. When found years later
his wife had given birth to two children. No one was ever able to find
his hiding place and if he saw any one in the woods he would run like a
lion.
Mr. Heard was a very mean master and was not liked by any one of his
slaves. Secretly each one hated him. He whipped unmercifully and in most
cases unnecessarily. However, he sometimes found it hard to subdue some
slaves who happened to have very high tempers. In the event this was the
case he would set a pack of hounds on him. Mrs. Avery related to the
writer the story told to her of Mr. Heard's cruelty by her grandmother.
The facts were as follows: "Every morning my grandmother would pray, and
old man Heard despised to hear any one pray saying they were only doing
so that they might become free niggers. Just as sure as the sun would
rise, she would get a whipping; but this did not stop her prayers every
morning before day. This particular time grandmother Sylvia was in
"family way" and that morning she began to pray as usual. The master
heard her and became so angry he came to her cabin seized and pulled her
clothes from her body and tied her to a young sapling. He whipped her so
brutally that her body was raw all over. When darkness fell her husband
cut her down from the tree, during the day he was afraid to go near her.
Rather than go back to the cabin she crawled on her knees to the woods
and her husband brought grease for her to grease her raw body. For two
weeks the master hunted but could not find her; however, when he finally
did, she had given birth to twins. The only thing that saved her was the
fact that she was a mid-wife and always carried a small pin knife which
she used to cut the navel cord of the babies. After doing this she tore
her petticoat into two pieces and wrapped each baby. Grandmother Sylvia
lived to get 115 years old.
Not only was Mr. Henderson cruel but it seemed that every one he hired
in the capacity of overseer was just as cruel. For instance, Mrs.
Henderson's grandmother Sylvia, was told to take her clothes off when
she reached the end of a row. She was to be whipped because she had not
completed the required amount of hoeing for the day. Grandmother
continued hoeing until she came to a fence; as the overseer reached out
to grab her she snatched a fence railing and broke it across his arms.
On another occasion grandmother Sylvia ran all the way to town to tell
the master that an overseer was beating her husband to death. The master
immediately jumped on his horse and started for home; and reaching the
plantation he ordered the overseer to stop whipping the old man. Mrs.
Avery received one whipping, with a hair brush, for disobedience; this
was given to her by the mistress.
Slaves were given separate churches, but the minister, who conducted the
services, was white. Very seldom did the text vary from the usual one of
obedience to the master and mistress, and the necessity for good
behavior. Every one was required to attend church, however, the only
self expression they could indulge in without conflict with the master
was that of singing. Any one heard praying was given a good whipping;
for most masters thought their prayers no good since freedom was the
uppermost thought in every one's head.
On the Heard plantation as on a number of others, marriages were made by
the masters of the parties concerned. Marriage licenses were unheard of.
If both masters mutually consented, the marriage ceremony was considered
over with. After that the husband was given a pass to visit his wife
once a week. In the event children were born the naming of them was left
entirely to the master. Parents were not allowed to name them.
Health of slaves was very important to every slave owner for loss of
life meant loss of money to them. Consequently they would call in their
family doctor, if a slave became seriously ill. In minor cases of
illness home remedies were used. "In fact," Mrs. Avery smilingly
remarked, "We used every thing for medicine that grew in the ground."
One particular home remedy was known as "Cow foot oil" which was made by
boiling cow's feet in water. Other medicines used were hoarhound tea,
catnip tea, and castor oil. Very often medicines and doctors failed to
save life; and whenever a slave died he was buried the same day. Mrs.
Avery remarked, "If he died before dinner the funeral and burial usually
took place immediately after dinner."
Although a very young child, Mrs. Avery remembers the frantic attempt
slave owners made to hide their money when the war broke out. The
following is a story related concerning the Heard family. "Mr. Heard,
our master, went to the swamp, dug a hole, and hid his money, then he
and his wife left for town on their horses. My oldest brother, Percy,
saw their hiding place; and when the Yanks came looking for the money,
he carried them straight to the swamps and showed than where the money
was hidden." Although the Yeard [TR: typo "Heard"] farm was in the
country the highway was very near and Mrs. Avery told of the long army
of soldiers marching to La Grange singing the following song: "Rally
around the flag boys, rally around the flag, joy, joy, for freedom."
When the war ended Mr. Heard visited every slave home and broke the news
to each family that they were free people and if they so desired could
remain on his plantation. Mrs. Avery's family moved away, in fact most
slave families did, for old man Heard had been such a cruel master
everyone was anxious to get away from him. However, one year later he
sold his plantation to Mr George Traylor and some of the families moved
back, Mrs. Avery's family included.
Mrs. Avery married at the age of 16; and was the mother of 14 children,
three of whom are still living. Although she has had quite a bit of
illness during her life, at present she is quite well and active in
spite of her old age. She assured the writer that the story of slavery,
which she had given her, was a true one and sincerely hoped it would do
some good in this world.
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