Lewis Favor
From:
Georgia
[HW: Dist. 5
Ex-Slave #30]
By E. Driskell
Typed by A.M. Whitley
1-29-37
FIRST COPY OF ARTICLE ENTITLED:
"AN INTERVIEW WITH LEWIS FAVOR," EX-SLAVE
[MAY 8 1937]
[TR: informant also referred to as Favors in this document.]
Among Atlanta's few remaining ex-slaves is one Lewis Favors. When he
fully understood this worker's reasons for approaching him he consented
to tell what he had seen and experienced as a slave. Chewing slowly on a
large wad of tobacco he began his account in the following manner: "I
was born in Merriweather County in 1855 near the present location of
Greenville, Georgia. Besides my mother there were eight of us children
and I was elder than all of them with one exception. Our owner was Mrs.
Favors, but she was known to everybody as the "Widow Favors." My father
was owned by a Mr. Darden who had a plantation in this same county. When
the "Widow's" husband died he left her about one-hundred acres of land
and a large sum of money and so she was considered as being rich. She
didn't have many slaves of her own and so her son (also a plantation
owner) used to send some of his slaves over occasionally to help
cultivate her crops, which consisted of cotton, corn, and all kinds of
vegetables."
In regard to her treatment of the slaves that she held Mr. Favors says:
"She wasn't so tight and then she was pretty tight too."
Those slaves who were field hands were in the field and at work by the
time it was light enough to see. They plowed, hoed, and then later in
the season gathered the crops. After the harvesting was over the fences
were repaired and rails were split. In rainy weather nobody had to work
out of doors, instead they shelled the peas and corn and sometimes
ginned the cotton. At night the women were required to spin and to
weave. In the winter season no work was required at night unless they
had not spun as much thread as was required. At such times they had to
work at night until the amount set had been reached.
Mr. Favor's mother was the cook for the "Widow Favors" and her two
neices who lived with her. The Favors had paid the owner of a hotel Four
hundred dollars to have the hotel cook teach her (Mr. Favors mother) to
prepare all kinds of fancy dishes. His father was a field hand on the
Darden plantation. In addition to this he repaired all the shoes when
this was necessary.
As a child Mr. Favors was not very strong physically and because of this
the "Widow" made him her pet. He never had to do any work other than
that of waiting on the mistress while she ate her meals. Even in this he
had to get up at four o'clock in the morning and help his mother in the
kitchen. Sometimes he would sweep the yards if he felt like doing so.
When he grew older he was given the task of picking the seed out of the
cotton at night.
On Sundays all the servants were free to do as they pleased, that is,
with the exception of Mr. Favors, his mother, and the two women who
serve as maids to the "Widow's" two neices. At other times if a task was
done before the day was over with they were given the remaining time to
do as they pleased. However, everybody had a one week holiday at
Christmas.
Mr. Favors made the following statement in regard to the clothing:
"Everybody wore the homespun cotton clothes that were made on the
plantation by the slave women. The women wore striped ausenberg dresses
while the men wore ausenberg pants and shirts that had been made into
one garment. My clothes were always better than the other little
fellows, who ran around in their shirttails because I was always in the
house of the "Widow." They used red clay to do the dyeing with. In the
winter time cracked feet were common. The grown people wore heavy shoes
called brogans while I wore the cast-off shoes of the white ladies. We
all wrapped our feet in bagging sacks to help them to keep warm. We
were given one complete outfit of clothes each year and these had to
last until the time for the next issue."
Sheets for the beds were also made out of homespun material while the
heavier cover such as the quilts, etc., were made from the dresses and
the other clothing that was no longer fit for wear.
As a general rule all of the slaves on this plantation had enough food
to keep them well and healthy. At the end of each week the field hands
were given enough food to last them seven days. For most of them the
week's supply consisted of three and one-half pounds of pork or fat
meat, one peck of meal, flour, and black molasses. The only meals that
they had to prepare from the above mentioned articles were breakfast and
supper. Dinner was cooked in the plantation kitchen by one of the women
who was too old for work in the fields. For this particular meal the
slaves had some different type of vegetable each day along with the fat
meat, corn bread, and the pot liquor which was served every day. They
were allowed to come in from the fields to the house to be served.
Breakfast usually consisted of fat meat, molasses, and corn bread while
supper consisted of pot-liquor, bread, and milk. The only variation from
this diet was on Sunday when all were allowed to have bisquits instead
of corn bread. Mr. Favors was asked what happened if anyone's food was
all eaten before it was time for the weekly issue and he answered: "It
was just too bad for them 'cause they would have to do the best they
could until the time came to get more." When such a thing happened to
anyone the others usually helped as far as their limited supplies would
permit.
Mr. Favors says that he, his mother, and the two maids ate the same kind
of food that the "Widow," and her nieces were served. After he had seen
to the wants of all at the table he had to take a seat at the table
beside his owner where he ate with her and the others seated there.
There were two one-roomed cabins located directly behind the four-roomed
house of the "Widow," the entire lot of them were built out of logs.
These two cabins were for the use of those servants who worked in the
house of their owner. At one end of each cabin there was a wide
fireplace which was made of sticks, stones, and dried mud. Instead of
windows there were only one or two small holes cut in the back wall of
the cabin. The beds were made out of heavy planks and were called
"Georgia Looms," by the slaves. Wooden slats were used in the place of
bed springs while the mattresses were merely large bags that had been
stuffed to capacity with hay, wheat straw, or leaves. The only other
furnishings in each of these cabins were several benches and a few
cooking utensils. Mr. Favors says: "We didn't have plank floors like
these on some of the other plantations; the plain bare ground served as
our floor." As he made this statement he reminded this worker that he
meant his mother and some of the other house servants lived in these
cabins. He himself always lived in the house with the "Widow Favors,"
who had provided a comfortable bed along with a small chair for his use.
These slaves who worked in the fields lived in several cabins that were
somewhat nearer to their fields than the other two cabins mentioned
above.
The remaining buildings on the Favors' plantation were the smokehouse
and the cook house where in addition to the cooking the younger children
were cared for by another old person. The woman who cared for these
children had to also help with the cooking.
Whenever any of the slaves were sick the doctor was called if
conditions warranted it, otherwise a dose of castor oil was prescribed.
Mr. Favors stated that after freedom was declared the white people for
whom they worked gave them hog-feet oil and sometimes beef-oil both of
which had the same effect as castor oil. If any were too ill to work in
the field one of the others was required to remain at the cabin or at
some other convenient place so as to be able to attend to the wants of
these so indisposed.
When Mr. Favors was asked if the servants on this plantation ever had
the chance to learn how to read or to write he answered: "They was all
afraid to even try because they would cut these off," and he held up his
right hand and pointed to his thumb and forefinger. At any rate the
"Widow," nieces taught him to read a few months before the slaves were
set free.
On Sunday all were required to attend the white church in town. They sat
in the back of the church as the white minister preached and directed
the following text at them: "Don't steal your master's chickens or his
eggs and your backs won't be whipped." In the afternoon of this same day
when the colored minister was allowed to preach the slaves heard this
text: "Obey your masters and your mistresses and your backs won't be
whipped." All of the marriages ware performed by the colored preacher
who read a text from the Bible and then pronounced the couple being
married as man and wife.
Although nobody was ever sold on the Favors plantation Mr. Favors has
witnessed the selling of others on the auction block. He says that the
block resembled a flight of steps. The young children and those women
who had babies too young to be separated from them were placed on the
bottom step, those in their early teens on the next, the young men and
women on the next, and the middle-aged and old ones on the last one.
Prices decreased as the auctioneer went from the bottom step to the top
one, that is, the younger a slave was the more money he brought if he
was sold.
Sometimes there were slaves who were punished by the overseer because
they had broken some rule. Mr. Favors says that at such times a cowhide
whip was used and the number of lashes that the overseer gave depended
on the slave owner's instructions. He has seen others whipped and at
such times he began praying. The only punishment that he ever received
was as a little boy and then a switch was used instead of the whip. If
the "Patter-Roller" caught a slave out in the streets without a pass
from his master they proceeded to give the luckless fellow five lashes
with a whip called the cat-o-nine-tails. They gave six lashes if the
slave was caught out at night regardless of whether he had a pass or
not.
As none of the slaves held by the "Widow" or her son ever attempted to
run away there was no punishment for this. However, he has heard that on
other plantations blood hounds were used to trail those who ran away and
if they were caught a severe beating was administered.
Sometime after the civil war had begun the "Widow Favors" packed as many
of her belongings as possible and fled to LaGrange, Georgia. He and his
mother along with several other slaves (one of whom was an old man) were
taken along. He never heard any of the white people say anything about
the war or its possible results. At one time a battle was being fought a
few miles distant and they all saw the cannon balls fall on the
plantation. This was when the journey to LaGrange was decided upon.
Before leaving the "Widow" had the slaves to bury all the meat, flour,
and other food on the plantation so that the Yankee soldiers would not
get it. Mr. Favors was given about two thousand dollars in gold currency
to keep and protect for his owner. At various intervals he had to take
this money to the "Widow". so that she might count it. Another one of
the slaves was given the son's gold watch to keep on his person until
the Yanks left the vicinity.
Before freedom was declared Mr. Favors says that he prayed all of the
time because he never wanted to be whipped with the cowhide, like others
he had seen. Further he says that it was a happy day for him when he was
told that he could do as he pleased because he realized then that he
could do some of the things that he had always wanted to do.
When freedom was declared for the slaves the Favors family freed slaves
valued at one-hundred and fifty thousand dollars. The live stock that
they sold represented a like sum. Mr. Favors and his mother remained
with the "Widow," who gave him his board in return for his services and
paid his mother twenty-five dollars per year for hers as cook.
"Even after the war things were pretty tough for us" stated Mr. Favors.
"The plantation owners refused to pay more than thirty or forty cents to
a person for a days work in the fields. Some of them would not allow an
ex-slave to walk in the streets in front of their homes but made them
take to the out-of-the-way paths through the woods to reach their
various destinations. At other times white men cut the clothes from the
backs of the ex-slaves when they were well dressed. If they didn't beg
hard enough when thus accosted they might even be cut to death!" After
the first three years following the war conditions were somewhat better,
he continued.
Mr. Favors says that his old age is due to the fact that he has always
taken good care of himself and because he has always refrained from
those habits that are known to tear a person's health down.
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