Tom Chisolm
From:
South Carolina
Project #1655
Stiles M. Scruggs
Columbia, S. C.
AN EX-SLAVE WHO CLIMBED UP
WITH WHITE FOLKS.
Tom Chisolm, a sixty-two year old bricklayer, 11 Railroad Street,
Columbia, S. C., is a son of Caesar Chisolm, who represented Colleton
County in the South Carolina House of Representatives for ten years.
Caesar was one of the few leading Negroes, who voted and spoke for the
Democratic Party and was friendly to the leaders of white supremacy
until he died in 1897. Tom relates the following story:
"My daddy was born in slavery and he was always treated good by his
master, de late Jimeson Chisolm, of Colleton County. He could read and
figure up 'most anything, when he was set free, and he had notions of
his own, too. For instance, he marry my mammy. She die soon after I was
born, and daddy say to me: 'Son, your mammy is gone, but you need not
fear dat any other woman will ever boss you. I's through with wives.'
And he never marry again.
"I come to Columbia with him, when he serve in de Legislature. When he
tell de niggers and white folks, back in Colleton, dat he was not aimin'
to run for de Legislature no more, they was sad. One time I go with him
to Smoak's, where Congressman George D. Tillman was to speak on one of
his campaigns. I felt pretty big, when Congressman Tillman smile and
grasp de hand of my daddy and say: 'You's goin' to say a few words for
me befo' I starts, eh, Chisolm?' 'I sho' will, if you laks,' say my
daddy. Soon he mount de platform, and befo' he say a word, both de white
and de niggers clap deir hands and stamp deir feets and smile. My daddy
bow, smile, and say: 'Ladies and gentlemen: We, us, and company sent
George Tillman to Congress long ago and knows what he has done. Now we's
gwine to send him back, and I is a little in doubt as to whether he is
gwine to take us to Washington, or bring Washington down here!' He say,
he jus' git started. But de crowd was laughin', dancin', and huggin' de
Congressman, and daddy laugh and set down.
"He introduce Master Duncan Clinch Heyward at Walterboro in 1902, when
Master Heyward was making his first race for governor. He raise such
laughter and pay so many witty compliments to Master Heyward, dat
Governor Heyward, when he was 'lected, appoint my daddy to an office in
Columbia, and we come to Columbia to live in 1903. My daddy retire at de
same time dat Governor Heyward quit office, in 1907. He later wrote
insurance on de lives of niggers, and he prosper.
"'Bout 1885, my daddy happen to be walkin' near de corner of Gervais and
Pulaski streets, and two niggers meet dere at de time and begin to
quarrel. My daddy stop and watch them awhile. One of them niggers kill
de other, and some time afterward a nigger lawyer come to see my daddy
and ask him: 'Wasn't you dere?' 'I sho' was,' say my daddy. De nigger
lawyer laugh and slap daddy on de back and say: 'Come on.' Daddy come
back in a few hours pretty tipsy. 'Dat lawyer spend a lot on me,' say
daddy, 'but de fool never let me tell him jus' what I knows.'
"A day or two afterward he was in de witness box. De nigger lawyer say:
'Now, Mister Chisolm, tell your tale in your own way.' Daddy say: 'I saw
de defendant and de man, now dead, as they meet. They glare at each
other and begin to talk harsh and cuss each other. Then, one strike at
de other and they back 'way and begin to reach in deir hind pockets.'
Daddy stop, and de nigger lawyer fairly scream: 'Yes, yes, go on!' 'That
all I saw,' say my daddy, 'cause I run to cover. I made it to de next
corner in nothin' flat and pick up speed afterward. So I was two blocks
'way, when I hear de shootin'!' De nigger lawyer nearly faint. He say:
'Who bought you off?' Daddy say he would have told him at de start, if
he'd had de chance.
"At another time, we was down on de 700 block of Wayne Street, at a
nigger gatherin'. We often spend days down dere collectin' weekly
insurance dues, and we knowed most of de people. Dere happen to be a
young nigger dere, back from de West for a visit, and he was a great
bragger. He was tellin' 'bout corn in Texas. 'Dere,' he said, 'corn grow
twenty feet high, with stalks as big as the arm of John L. Sullivan,
when he whupped Kilrain, and half a dozen big ears on each stalk.' De
crowd was thunderstruck.
"My daddy cleared his throat and say: 'Dat am nothin' in de way of corn.
One day I was walkin' past a forty-acre patch of corn, on de Governor
Heyward plantation by de Combahee River and de corn was so high and
thick, I decide to ramble through it. 'Bout halfway over, I hears a
commotion. I walks on and peeps. Dere stands a four-ox wagon backed up
to de edge of de field, and two niggers was sawin' down a stalk. Finally
they drag it on de wagon and drive off. I seen one of them, in a day or
two, and asks 'bout it. He say: 'We shelled 366 bushels of corn from dat
one ear, and then we saw 800 feet of lumber from de cob.'
"Dat young man soon slip out from de crowd and has never been seen here
since. I thinks daddy was outdone with me, 'cause I was not quickwitted
and smart, lak him. He tell me once: 'You must learn two good trades,
and I think carpenterin' and brick-layin' safest.' I done that, and I
has never been sorry, 'cause I's made a good livin'. Governor Heyward
was always a good friend of daddy, and he was proud to see us makin'
good in de insurance business."
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Maria Cleland
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Silvia Chisolm
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