Ida Henry
From:
Oklahoma
Oklahoma Writers' Project
Ex-Slaves
[Date stamp: NOV 5 1937]
IDA HENRY
Age 83
Oklahoma City, Okla.
I was born in Marshall, Texas, in 1854. Me mother was named Millie
Henderson and me father Silas Hall. Me mother was sold in South
Carolina to Mister Hall, who brought her to Texas. Me father was born
and raised by Master John Hall. Me mother's and father's family
consisted of five girls and one boy. My sisters' names were:
Margrette, Chalette, Lottie, Gracy and Loyo, and me brother's name was
Dock Howard. I lived with me mother and father in a log house on
Master Hall's plantation. We would be sorry when dark, as de
patrollers would walk through de quarters and homes of de slaves all
times of night wid pine torch lights to whip de niggers found away
from deir home.
At nights when me mother would slip away for a visit to some of de
neighbors homes, she would raise up the old plank floor to de log
cabin and make pallets on de ground and put us to bed and put the
floor back down so dat we couldn't be seen or found by the patrollers
on their stroll around at nights.
My grandmother Lottie would always tell us to not let Master catch you
in a lie, and to always tell him de truth.
I was a house girl to me Mistress and nursed, cooked, and carried de
children to and from school. In summer we girls wore cotton slips and
yarn dresses for winter. When I got married I was dress in blue serge
and was de third person to marry in it. Wedding dresses was not worn
after de wedding in dem days by niggers as we was taught by our
Mistress dat it was bad luck to wear de wedding dress after marriage.
Therefore, 'twas handed down from one generation to the other one.
Me Mistress was sometimes good and sometimes mean. One day de cook was
waiting de table and when passing around de potatoes, old Mistress
felt of one and as hit wasn't soft done, she exclaimed to de cook,
"What you bring these raw potatoes out here for?" and grab a fork and
stuck it in her eye and put hit out. She, de cook, lived about 10
years and died.
Me Mistress was de mother of five children, Crock, Jim, Boss and two
girls name, Lea and Annie.
Dere home was a large two-story white house wid de large white posts.
As me Master went to de War de old overseer tried himself in meanness
over de slaves as seemingly he tried to be important. One day de
slaves caught him and one held him whilst another knocked him in de
head and killed him.
Master's plantation was about 300 acres and he had 'bout 160 slaves.
Before de slaves killed our overseer, he would work 'em night and day.
De slaves was punished when dey didn't do as much work as de overseer
wanted 'em to do.
He would lock 'em in jail some nights without food and kept 'em dere
all night, and after whipping 'em de next morning would only give 'em
bread and water to work on till noon.
When a slave was hard to catch for punishment dey would make 'em wear
ball and chains. De ball was 'bout de size of de head and made of
lead.
On Sunday mornings before breakfast our Mistress would call us
together, read de Bible and show us pictures of de Devil in de Bible
and tell us dat if we was not good and if we would steal and tell lies
dat old Satan would git us.
Close to our Master's plantation lived several families of old "poor
white trash" who would steal me Master's hogs and chickens and come
and tell me Mistress dat dey seen some of de slaves knock one of dere
hogs in de head. Dis continued up till Master returned from de War and
caught de old white trash stealing his hogs. De niggers did at times
steal Master's hogs and chickens, and I would put biscuits and pieces
of chicken in a sack under me dress dat hung from me waist, as I
waited de table for me Mistress, and later would slip off and eat it
as dey never gave de slaves none of dis sort of food.
We had church Sundays and our preacher Rev. Pat Williams would preach
and our Master and family and other nearby white neighbors would
ofttime attend our services. De patrollers wouldn't allow de slaves to
hold night services, and one night dey caught me mother out praying.
Dey stripped her naked and tied her hands together and wid a rope tied
to de hand cuffs and threw one end of de rope over a limb and tied de
other end to de pommel of a saddle on a horse. As me mother weighed
'bout 200, dey pulled her up so dat her toes could barely touch de
ground and whipped her. Dat same night she ran away and stayed over a
day and returned.
During de fall months dey would have corn shucking and cotton pickings
and would give a prize to de one who would pick de highest amount of
cotton or shuck de largest pile of corn. De prize would usually be a
suit of clothes or something to wear and which would be given at some
later date.
We could only have dances during holidays, but dances was held on
other plantations. One night a traveler visiting me Master and wanted
his boots shined. So Master gave de boots to one of de slaves to shine
and de slave put de boots on and went to a dance and danced so much
dat his feet swelled so dat when he returned he could not pull 'em
off.
De next morning as de slave did not show up with de boots dey went to
look for him and found him lying down trying to pull de boots off. He
told his Master dat he had put de boots on to shine 'em and could not
pull 'em off. So Master had to go to town and buy de traveler another
pair of boots. Before he could run away de slave was beaten wid 500
lashes.
De War dat brought our freedom lasted about two years. Me Master went
and carried one of de slaves for a servant. He was kind and good and
from dat day on he never whipped another slave nor did he allow any of
his slaves whipped. Dis time lasted from January to June de 19th when
we was set free in de State of Texas.
Lincoln and Davis both died short of promise. I means dat dey both
died before dey carried out dere plans and promises for freeing de
slaves.
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