Jeptha Choice
From:
Texas
JEPTHA CHOICE, 1117 Brashear St., Houston, Texas, was born in
slavery, on the plantation of Jezro Choice, about 6 miles south of
Henderson, Texas. Jeptha was sent to school with the white
children, and after he was freed, he was sent to school for several
years, and became a teacher. He moved to Houston in 1888 and opened
a barber shop. Jeptha claims to have been born on Oct. 17, 1835,
which would make him 101 years old. He has the appearance of
extreme age, but has a retentive memory, and his manner of speaking
varies from fairly good English to typical Negro dialect and idiom.
"I'll be 102 years old, come fall, 'cause my mother told me I was born
on Oct. 17, 1835, and besides, I was about 30 years old at the end of
the Civil War. We belonged to the Choices and I was born on their
plantation. My mother's name was Martha and she had been brought here
from Serbia. My father's name was John and he was from the East Indies.
They was brought to this country in a slave boat owned by Captain Adair
and sold to someone at New Orleans before Master Jezro Choice bought
them. I had five sisters and one brother but they are all dead, 'cepting
one brother who lives near Henderson.
"Master Jezro was right kind. He had 50 or 60 slaves and a grist mill
and tannery besides the plantation. My white folks sort of picked me out
and I went to school with the white children. I went to the fields when
I was about 20, but I didn't do much field works, 'cause they was
keepin' me good and they didn't want to strain me.
"On Sunday we just put an old Prince Albert coat on some good nigger and
made a preacher out of him. We niggers had our band, too, and I was one
of the players.
"The master was mighty careful about raisin' healthy nigger families and
used us strong, healthy young bucks to stand the healthy nigger gals.
When I was young they took care not to strain me and I was as handsome
as a speckled pup and was in demand for breedin'. Later on we niggers
was 'lowed to marry and the master and missus would fix the nigger and
gal up and have the doin's in the big house. The white folks would
gather round in a circle with the nigger and gal in the center and then
master laid a broom on the floor and they held hands and jumped over it.
That married 'em for good.
"When babies was born old nigger grannies handled them cases, but until
they was about three years old they wasn't 'lowed round the quarters,
but was wet nursed by women who didn't work in the field and kept in
separate quarters and in the evenin' their mammies were let to see 'em.
"We was fed good and had lots of beef and hawg meat and wild game.
Possum and sweet yams is mighty good. You parboil the possum about half
done and put him in a skewer pan and put him in a hot oven and just
'fore he is done you puts the yams in the pan and sugar on 'em. That's a
feast.
"Sometimes when they's short of bread the old missus would say, 'How
'bout some ash cakes?' Then they'd mix cornmeal and water and sweep
ashes out of the open hearth and bake the ash cakes.
"The master and his boys was all kilt in the war and after freedom I
stayed all summer. It was pretty tough on us niggers for a while, 'cause
the womenfolks what was left after the war didn't have money. But
Colonel Jones, the master's son-in-law, took me to live in Henderson and
paid twenty-five cents a week for more schoolin' for me and I learned
through fractions. Then I got me a job teachin' school about six months
a year and in off times I'd farm. I did lots of different kinds of work,
on the narrow gauge railroad out of Longview and I learned to be a
barber, too. But I had to give it up a few years back 'cause I can't
stand up so long any more and now I'm tryin' to help my people by divine
healing.
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