Laura Shelton
From:
Arkansas
Circumstances of interview
STATE--Arkansas
NAME OF WORKER--Samuel S. Taylor
ADDRESS--Little Rock, Arkansas
DATE--December, 1938
SUBJECT--Ex-slave
[TR: Repetitive information deleted from subsequent pages.]
1. Name and address of informant--Laura Shelton, 1518 Pulaski Street,
Little Rock, Arkansas.
2. Date and time of interview interview--
3. Place of interview--1518 Pulaski Street, Little Rock, Arkansas.
4. Name and address of person, if any who put you in touch with
informant--
5. Name and address of person, if any, accompanying you--
Description of room, house, surroundings, etc.--
Personal History of Informant
1. Ancestry--mother, Susan Barnett; father, Ben Bearden; grandfather,
Harvey Barnett.
2. Place and date of birth--Arkansas, 1878
3. Family--Three children.
4. Education, with dates--
5. Places lived in with dates--Jerome, Arkansas and Little Rock. No
dates.
6. Occupations and accomplishments, with dates--Farmed, wash and iron.
7. Special skills and interests--
8. Community and religious activities--Belongs to Baptist Church.
9. Description of informant--
10. Other points gained in interview--
Text of Interview (Unedited)
"My mother used to sit down and talk to us and tell us about slavery.
If she had died when I was young I wouldn't have known much. But by her
living till I was old, I learned a lot.
"My mother's old master was Tom Barnett, so she said. No, not 'so she
said' because I have seed him. He give her her age and all at that
time. I have it in my Bible. He said that she was twelve years old the
Christmas before the surrender. The surrender was in May, wasn't it?
"My mother's name was Susan Bearden. She married Ben Bearden. She worked
in Tom Barnett's house. She milked and churned and 'tended to the
children and all such as that. He never allowed her to go to the field.
Neither her mother, my grandmother. She was the cook. My mother's name
before she married was Susan Barnett.
"An old colored lady that they had there seed after the colored
children. She looked after my mother too. She was so old she couldn't do
nothin' so they had her to look after the children. My grandmother was
kept busy because she had the white folks to cook for and she had all
the colored folks to cook for too.
"There is an old lady down on Spring Street that can give you a lot of
information about slavery times.
"A boy was telling her that somebody was going 'round asking questions
about slavery and she said she wished he would come and see her.
"My mother never had any chance to go to school before freedom and she
never had any chance to go afterwards because she didn't have any money.
When they turned them loose the white folks didn't give 'em anything, so
they had to work. They didn't allow them to pick up a piece of paper in
slave time for fear they would learn.
"My mother remembered the pateroles. She said they used to catch and
whip the colored men and women when they would get out.
"My mother's old master was the one that told mama she was free. He told
her she was free as he was. After they learned that they were free, they
stayed on till Christmas.
"After Christmas, they went to another plantation. My gran'pa, he come
and got them all to come. My gran'pa's name was Harvey Barnett. His old
master's son had married and he had been staying with him. That made
him be on another place. There was a good many of the children in my
grandmother's family. Mama had a sister named Lucy, one named Lethe,
one named Caroline, one named Annie, and one named Jane. She had two
boys--one named Jack, and one named Barnett. She had another sister
named--I don't remember her name.
"After freedom, we sharecropped for a number of years up until my father
died. He died about twenty-four years ago.
"After that mama washed and ironed for about ten or twelve years. Then
she got too old to work and we took care of her. My mother died last
March on the ninth day. She always had good health for an old lady.
Never got so she couldn't get up and do her light work such as dress
herself, cooking, sweeping, and so on. She would even do her own washing
and ironing if we would let her. She would hide from us and pick cotton
till we stopped her.
"She was sick only one week and the doctor said she died of old age. He
said it was just her time. She didn't have nothin' the matter with her
but jus' old age he said so far as he could find. Dr. Fletcher was
our doctor. She died in Jerome, Arkansas about sixteen miles from the
Louisiana line. Leastwise, they tell me it's about sixteen miles from
the line. She always told us that she had her business fixed with the
Lord and that when she taken sick, It wouldn't be long. And sure 'nough,
it wasn't.
"I farmed until my mother and brother died. Then I came up here with my
sister as I had no children living. I jus' wash and iron now whenever I
can get somethin' to do.
"I have been married once. I had three children. All of them are dead.
My children are dead and my husband is dead.
"I belong to the Baptist church down on Spring Street. I always unite
with the church whenever I go to a place. I don't care whether I stay
there or not.
"My mama's master was good as far as white folks generally be in slavery
times. He never whipped my grandmother nor my mother. He was good to the
field hands too. He never whipped them. He would feed them too. He had
right smart of field hands but I don't know just how many. I don't think
he ever sold any of his slaves. I think he come by them from his father
because I have heard them say that his father told him before he died
never to 'part with Black Mammy. That was what he called her. And he
kept them altogether jus' like his father told him to. His father said,
'I you to keep all my Negroes together and Black Mammy I don't want you
let her be whipped because she nursed all of you.' She said she never
was whipped 'cept once when she got a cockle berry up her nose and he
got it out and gave her a little brushing--not as much as grandma would
have given her.
"He kept them all in good shoes and warm clothes and give them plenty to
eat. So many of the slaves on other plantations didn't have half enough
to eat and were half naked and barefooted all the time."
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Mahalia Shores
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Frederick Shelton
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