Fannie Griffin
From:
South Carolina
Project #1655
Everett R. Pierce
Columbia, S.C.
INTERVIEW WITH FANNIE GRIFFIN
EX-SLAVE 94 YEARS.
"You wants me to tell you all what I 'members 'bout slavery in slavery
time? Well ma'am, I was just a young gal then and I's a old woman now,
nigh on to ninety-four years old; I might be forgot some things, but
I'll tell you what I 'members best.
My massa, Massa Joe Beard, was a good man, but he wasn't one of de
richest men. He only had six slaves, three men and three women, but he
had a big plantation and would borrow slaves from his brother-in-law on
de 'joining plantation, to help wid de crops.
I was de youngest slave, so Missy Grace, dats Massa Joe's wife, keep me
in de house most of de time, to cook and keep de house cleaned up. I
milked de cow and worked in de garden too. My massa was good to all he
slaves, but Missy Grace was mean to us. She whip us a heap of times when
we ain't done nothing bad to be whip for. When she go to whip me, she
tie my wrists together wid a rope and put that rope thru a big staple in
de ceiling and draw me up off de floor and give me a hundred lashes. I
think 'bout my old mammy heap of times now and how I's seen her whipped,
wid de blood dripping off of her.
All that us slaves know how to do, was to work hard. We never learn to
read and write nor we never had no church to go to, only sometimes de
white folks let us go to their church, but we never jine in de singing,
we just set and listen to them preach and pray. De graveyard was right
by de church and heap of de colored people was scared to go by it at
night, they say they see ghosts and hants, and sperits but I ain't
never see none, don't believe there is none. I more scared of live
people than I is dead ones; dead people ain't gwine to harm you.
Our massa and missus was good to us when we was sick; they send for de
doctor right off and de doctor do all he could for us, but he ain't had
no kind of medicine to give us 'cepting sperits of turpentine, castor
oil, and a little blue mass. They ain't had all kinds of pills and stuff
then, like they has now, but I believe we ain't been sick as much then
as we do now. I never heard of no consumption them days; us had
pneumonia sometime tho'.
You wants to know if we had any parties for pastime? Well ma'am, not
many. We never was allowed to have no parties nor dances, only from
Christmas Day to New Year's eve. We had plenty good things to eat on
Christmas Day and Santa Claus was good to us too. We'd have all kinds of
frolics from Christmas to New Years but never was allowed to have no fun
after that time.
I 'members one time I slip off from de missus and go to a dance and when
I come back, de dog in de yard didn't seem to know me and he bark and
wake de missus up and she whip me something awful. I sho didn't go to no
more dances widout asking her. De patarollers (patrollers) would ketch
you too, if you went out after dark. We most times stay at home at night
and spin cloth to make our clothes. We make all our clothes, and our
shoes was handmade too. We didn't have fancy clothes like de people has
now. I likes it better being a slave, we got along better then, than we
do now. We didn't have to pay for everything we had.
De worst time we ever had was when de Yankee men come thru. We had heard
they was coming and de missus tell us to put on a big pot of peas to
cook, so we put some white peas in a big pot and put a whole ham in it,
so that we'd have plenty for de Yankees to eat. Then when they come,
they kicked de pot over and de peas went one way and de ham another.
De Yankees 'stroyed 'most everything we had. They come in de house and
told de missus to give them her money and jewels. She started crying and
told them she ain't got no money or jewels, 'cepting de ring she had on
her finger. They got awfully mad and started 'stroying everything. They
took de cows and horses, burned de gin, de barn, and all de houses 'cept
de one massa and missus was living in. They didn't leave us a thing
'cept some big hominy and two banks of sweet potatoes. We chipped up
some sweet potatoes and dried them in de sun, then we parched them and
ground them up and that's all we had to use for coffee. It taste pretty
good too. For a good while we just live on hominy and coffee.
No ma'am, we ain't had no celebration after we was freed. We ain't know
we was free 'til a good while after. We ain't know it 'til General
Wheeler come thru and tell us. After that, de massa and missus let all
de slaves go 'cepting me; they kept me to work in de house and de
garden."
Home address:
2125 Calhoun St.
Columbia, S.C.
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Madison Griffin
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Adeline Grey
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