Sarah Benjamin
From:
Texas
SARAH BENJAMIN, 82, was born a slave of the Gilbert family, in
Clavin Parish, Louisiana. In 1867 she married Cal Benjamin and they
settled in Corsicana, Texas, where Sarah now lives.
"I is Sarah Benjamin and is 82 year old, 'cause my mammy told me I's
born in 1855 in Clavin Parish in Louisiana. Her name was Fannie and my
pappy's name Jack Callahan. There was jus' three of us chillen and I's
de oldest.
"Marse Gilbert was tol'able good to we'uns, and give us plenty to eat.
He had a smokehouse big as a church and it was full, and in de big
kitchen we all et, chillen and all. De grown folks et first and den de
chillen. Did we have plenty of possums and fish by de barrels full! All
dis was cooked in de racks over de fireplace and it were good.
"Our clothes was all homespun and de shoes made by de shoemaker. Old
marse wanted all us to go to church and if dey didn't have shoes dey
have something like de moccasin.
"I don't know how many slaves there was, but it was a lot, maybe 60 or
70. Dey worked hard every day 'cept Sunday. Iffen they was bad they
might git whuppin's, but not too hard, not to de blood. Iffen dey was
still bad, dey puts chains on dem and puts dem in de stocks, 'cause
there wasn't no jail there.
"Once when I's little, marse stripped me stark modern naked and puts me
on de block, but he wouldn't sell me, 'cause he was bid only $350.00 and
he say no, 'cause I was good and fat.
"Dey didn't larn us nothin' and iffen you did larn to write, you better
keep it to yourse'f, 'cause some slaves got de thumb or finger cut off
for larnin' to write. When de slaves come in from de fields dey didn't
larn nothin', they jus' go to bed, 'lessen de moonshine nights come and
dey could work in de tobacco patch. De marster give each one de little
tobacco patch and iffen he raised more'n he could use he could sell it.
"On Christmas we all has de week vacation and maybe de dance. We allus
have de gran' dinner on dat day, and no whuppin's. But dey couldn't
leave de plantation without de pass, even on Christmas.
"De women had to run de gin in de daytime and de man at night. Dey fed
de old gin from baskets and my mammy fed from dose baskets all day with
de high fever and died dat night. She wouldn't tell de marster she sick,
fer fear she have to take de quinine.
"De day we was freed, de slaves jus' scattered, 'cepting me. Missy
Gilbert says I wasn't no slave no more but I had to stay and he'p her
for my board 'till I's grown. I stayed 'till I was 'bout 16, den I runs
away and marries Cal Benjamin, and we comes to Texas. Cal and me has six
chillen, but he died 'fore dey was grown.
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Jack Bess
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Minerva Bendy
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