Jennylin Dunn
From:
North Carolina
N. C. District: No. 2 [320187]
Worker: Mary A. Hicks
No. Words: 382
Subject: JENNYLIN DUNN
Person Interviewed: Jennylin Dunn
Editor: Daisy Bailey Waitt
[TR: No Date Stamp]
JENNYLIN DUNN
Ex-Slave Story
An interview with Jennylin Dunn 87, of 315 Bledsoe Avenue, Raleigh, N. C.
I wuz borned hyar in Wake County eighty-seben years ago. Me an' my
folks an' bout six others belonged ter Mis' Betsy Lassiter who wuz right
good ter us, do' she sho' did know dat chilluns needs a little brushin'
now an' den.
My papa wuz named Isaac, my mammy wuz named Liza, an' my sisters wuz
named Lucy, Candice an' Harriet. Dar wuz one boy what died 'fore I can
'member an' I doan know his name.
We ain't played no games ner sung no songs, but we had fruit ter eat
an' a heap of watermillions ter eat in de season.
I seed seberal slabe sales on de block, front of de Raleigh Cou't
house, an' yo' can't think how dese things stuck in my mind. A whole
heap o' times I seed mammies sold from dere little babies, an' dar wuz
no'min' den, as yo' knows.
De patterollers wuz sumpin dat I wuz skeerd of. I know jist two o' 'em,
Mr. Billy Allen Dunn an' Mr. Jim Ray, an' I'se hyard of some scandelous
things dat dey done. Dey do say dat dey whupped some of de niggers
scandelous.
When dey hyard dat de Yankees wuz on dere way ter hyar dey says ter us
dat dem Yankees eats little nigger youngins, an' we shore stays hid.
I jist seed squeamishin' parties lookin' fer sumpin' ter eat, an' I'se
hyard dat dey tuck ever'thing dey comes 'crost. A whole heap of it dey
flunged away, an' atterwards dey got hongry too.
One of 'em tried ter tell us dat our white folks stold us from our
country an' brung us hyar, but since den I foun' out dat de Yankees
stole us dereselves, an' den dey sold us ter our white folkses.
Atter de war my pappy an' mammy brung us ter Raleigh whar I'se been
libin' since dat time. We got along putty good, an' de Yankees sont us
some teachers, but most o' us wuz so busy scramblin' roun' makin' a
livin' dat we ain't got no time fer no schools.
I reckon dat hit wuz better dat de slaves wuz freed, but I still loves
my white folkses, an' dey loves me.
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Lucy Ann Dunn
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Fannie Dunn
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