Pastsy Mitchner
From:
North Carolina
N.C. District: No. 2
Worker: T. Pat Matthews
No. Words: 1,474
Subject: A SLAVE STORY
Reference: Patsy Mitchner
Editor: George L. Andrews
[TR: Date stamp: JUL 24 1937]
PATSY MITCHNER
84 years old, of 432 McKee Street, Raleigh, N.C.
"Come right in, honey, I been expectin' some of you white folks a long
time from what I dreampt an' I wants to tell you my story. You see I is
umble an' perlite 'cause my white folks teached me dat way.
"Come right in, I'm not feelin' well. My husban' has been dead a long
time. I cannot stan' up to talk to you so have a seat.
"I belonged to Alex Gorman, a paper man. He printed the 'Spirit of the
Age,' a newspaper. I reckon you can find it in the Museum. I reckons
dey keeps all way back yonder things in dere jest to remember by. He
had a lot of printers both black an' white. De slaves turned de wheels
de most of de time, an' de white mens done de printin'. Dere wus a big
place dug out at each side of de machine. One man pulled it to him an'
de other pulled it to him. Dey wurked it wid de han's. It wus a big
wheel. Dey didn't have no printers den like dey got now.
"De ole printin' place is standin' now. It stands in front of de
laundry on Dawson Street, where a lot of red wagons stan's goin' up
towards the bus station. De ole buildin' wid stairsteps to go up. Dey
sot de type upstairs an' de machine wus on de groun' floor.
"Marster married Gormans twice an' dey wus both named Mary. Don't know
whether dey wus sisters or not, but dey wus both Virginia women. So my
missus name wus Mary Gorman.
"I do not know my age, but I wus 'bout 12 years old when Wheeler's
cavalry come through. Dey skeered me so much I squatted like a rat. Dey
pulled clothes off de line an' stole clothes from stores an' went down
to de depot an' changed clothes. Dey stole de womens drawers an' filled
'em wid things. Dey stole meat, corn an' other things an' put 'em in
womens drawers, throwed 'em across dere horses backs an' went on. You
know women den wore long drawers open in front, ha! ha!
"Wheeler's cavalry tied up de legs an' front of 'em an' filled de legs
an' seat full of things dey stole. Dey jest grabbed everything an' went
on. Dey had a reason for leavin'; de Yankees wus at dere heels.
"Jest as soon as dey lef' de Yankees come. You know, dere wus a man
here by de name of Governor Holden an' de flag wus a red an' white
flag, an' when de Yankees come dere wus another flag run up.
"I want to try to tell de truth 'cause I wus teached dat way by marster
an' missus.
"De flag brought peace 'cause de Yankees did not tear up de town. Dey
had guards out around de houses an' dey marched back an' forth day an'
night to keep everybody from robbin' de houses.
"De Yankees wid dere blue uniforms on jest kivered de town. Dey wus
jest like ants. Dey played purty music on de ban' an' I liked dat. I
wus fraid of 'em dough 'cause marster an' missus said dey were goin' to
give us to 'em when dey come. I stayed hid mos' of de time right after
de surrender 'cause I didn't want de Yankees to ketch me. When de
others lef' after de surrender I run away an' went to Rev. Louis
Edwards, a nigger preacher. He sent me to my aunt at Rolesville. My
Aunt wus named Patsy Lewis. I stayed dere bout three weeks when my
uncle rented whur Cameron Park is now an' tended it dat year. We all
come to Raleigh an' I have lived here all my life, but the three weeks
I stayed at Rolesville.
"I have wurked for white folks, washin', cookin', an' wurkin' at a
laundry ever since freedom come.
"I never seed my father in my life. My mother wus named Tempe Gorman.
Dey would not talk to me 'bout who my father wus nor where he wus at.
Mother would laf sometime when I axed her 'bout him.
"Marster treated his niggers mean sometimes. He beat my mother till de
scars wus on her back, so I could see 'em.
"Dey sold my mother, sister an' brother to ole man Askew, a slave
speculator, an' dey were shipped to de Mississippi bottoms in a
box-car. I never heard from mother anymore. I neber seed my brother
agin, but my sister come back to Charlotte. She come to see me. She
married an' lived dere till she died.
"In slavery time de food wus bad at marsters. It wus cooked one day for
de nex', dat is de corn bread wus baked an' de meat wus biled an' you
et it col' fer breakfas'. De meat wus as fat as butter an' you got one
rashen an' a hunk of corn bread fer a meal. No biscuit wus seen in de
slave houses. No sir, dat dey wus not. No biscuit for niggers at
marsters.
"Our clothes wus bad an' our sleepin' places wus jest bunks. Our shoes
had wooden bottoms on 'em.
"I heard 'em talk about patterollers so much I wus skeered so I could
hardly sleep at night sometimes. I wus 'fraid dey would come an' catch
me but I neber seed one in my life.
"I neber seed any slaves sold, in chains, or a jail for slaves. I neber
seed a slave whupped. Marster took 'em in de back shed room to whup
'em.
"We was not teached to read an' write. You better not be caught wid no
paper in yore han' if you was, you got de cowhide. I darsent to talk
back to 'em no matter what happen'd dey would git you if you talked
back to 'em.
"I married Tom Mitchner after de war. I went by de name of Patsy Gorman
till I wus married. Now I goes by de name of Patsy Mitchner. My
husban', Tom Mitchner, was born a slave. My marster lived whar de bus
station now is on de corner of Martin an' McDowell Streets in dat ole
house dat stan's near dere now. I wus born an' bred in Raleigh an' have
neber libed out of Wake County.
"Ole Dr. Jim McKee, who is dead an' gone, looked atter us when we wus
sick. He give us medicine an' kep us clean out better en people is
clean out now. Dr. John McKee at de City Hall is his son. Dey pays no
'tention to me now; guess dey has forgotten me.
"Did you say ghosts, Lawsy, no I neber seed one but our spirits is
always wonderin' aroun' eben before we dies. Spirits is wonderin'
eberywhere an' you has to look out for 'em.
"Witches is folks. I neber had a spell put on me by one, but I knowed a
woman once who had a spell put on 'er, an' it hurt her feet, but a ole
white man witch doctor helped take de spell off, but I think it wus de
Lord who took it off. I is a Christain an' I believes eberythin' is in
His han's.
"De people is worser now den dey was in slavery time. We need
patterollers right now. 'Twould stop some uv dis stealin' an' keep a
lot of folks out of de penetentiary. We need 'em right now.
"Slavery wus better for us den things is now in some cases. Niggers den
didn't have no responsibility, jest wurk, obey an' eat. Now dey got to
shuffle around an' live on jest what de white folks min' to give 'em.
"Slaves prayed for freedom. Den dey got it dey didn't know what to do
wid it. Dey wus turned out wid nowhere to go an' nothin' to live on.
Dey had no 'sperence in lookin' out for demselves an' nothin' to wurk
wid an' no lan'.
"Dey made me think of de crowd onetime who prayed for rain when it wus
dry in crap time. De rain fell in torrents an' kept fallin' till it was
'bout a flood. De rain frogs 'gin to holler an' callin' mo' rain an' it
rained an' rained. Den de raincrow got up in a high tree an' he holler
an' axed de Lord for rain. It rained till ebery little rack of cloud
dat come ober brought a big shower of large drops. De fiel's wus so wet
an' miry you could not go in 'em an' water wus standin' in de fiel's
middle of ebery row, while de ditches in de fiel's looked like little
rivers, dey wus so full of water. It begun to thunder agin in de
southwest, right whar we call de 'Chub hole' of de sky, whar so much
rain comes from an' de clouds growed blacker an' blacker back dere.
"Den one of de mens who had been prayin' for rain up an' said, 'I tell
you brothers if it don't quit rainin' eberything goin' to be washed
away.' Dey all looked at de black rain cloud in de west wid sor'ful
faces as if dey felt dey didn't know what use dey had for rain after
dey got it. Den one of de brothers said to de other brothers kinder
easy an' shameful like, 'Brothers don't you think we overdone dis
thing?' Dats what many a slave thought 'bout prayin' for freedom.
"Before two years had passed after de surrender dere wus two out of
every three slaves who wushed dey wus back wid dere marsters.
"De marsters kindness to de niggers after de war is de cause of de
nigger havin' things today. Dere wus a lot of love between marster an'
slave en dar is few of us dat don't love de white folks today.
"Slavery wus a bad thing an' freedom, of de kin' we got wid nothin' to
live on wus bad. Two snakes full of pisen. One lyin' wid his head
pintin' north, de other wid his head pintin' south. Dere names wus
slavery an' freedom. De snake called slavery lay wid his head pinted
south an' de snake called freedom lay wid his head pinted north. Both
bit de nigger, an' dey wus both bad."
EH.
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Emeline Moore
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Anna Mitchel
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