Religion – Page 2 – Reckoning, Inc.

August 12, 2020October 4, 2020

Caroline Wright

After the Civil War started, Dr. Warren Wortham moved his family and about 40-50 enslaved people (including young Caroline Wright) from Louisiana to Texas. Caroline was 12 when she was freed. In this excerpt, the interviewer records Caroline Wright in the first person. The interviewer recounts a time Caroline Wright was possibly going to be sold and describes broadly cultural aspects of her life.

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Excerpt:

… in Louisiana, we were all put on the block and valued. I was six years old and I was valued at $1,500. But our family wasn’t sold to anyone. I was given to Miss Muriel, Dr. Wortham’s daughter. Me and my sisters was made house slaves and my mammy and pappy and brothers was made field slaves.

Our master, Dr. Wortham, sure was a fine doctor. He never whipped us. The young missus learned us our A B C’s ’cause there was no school for the slaves. There wasn’t no church on the plantation, but we all went occasionally to a big log cabin and camp shed. Sometime a white would preach and sometimes a colored preacher…

On Christmas, the white folks always give us presents and plenty to eat, and we always had a big dance five or six times a year. Dr. Wortham lived in a great big log house made from cedar logs…

[Describing enslavement in Texas:] we got up about four in the morning and ate breakfast about nine o’clock. All the slaves had to work from sun to sun, and when we were sick, the master treated us…

Interviewee Formerly enslaved person	Birth Year (Age)	Interviewer WPA Volunteer	Enslaver’s Name
Caroline Wright	Unknown (about 90)	Unknown	Hayes White, Miss Muriel, Dr. Warren and Annie Wortham

Interview Location	Residence State	Birth Location
Waco, TX	TX	Jones Creek by Baton Rouge, LA

Themes & Keywords	Additional Tags:
Education, Religion	First Person, Third Person, Dialect, Enslaver Father, Hired Out

Wright_C_1

August 12, 2020October 4, 2020

Callie Williams

Callie Williams was four years old when the Civil War ended. In this first person excerpt, the interviewer documents Callie Williams’ description of the life of enslaved people that was passed on to Callie Williams by her mother. In this excerpt, Callie Williams describes the role of song in the life of enslaved people.

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Excerpt:

…Most of the time the slaves would be too tired to do anything but go to bed at night, but sometimes they would sit around and sing after supper and they would sing and pray on Sunday. One of the songs that was used most was ’Yon Comes Old Master Jesus.’ If I remember, it went something like this:

‘I really believe Christ is coming again
He’s coming in the morning
He’s coming in the morning
He’s coming with a rainbow on his shoulder
He’s coming again by and by’

They tried to make them stop singing and praying during the [Civil] war because all they’d ask for was to be set free, but the slaves would get in the cabins and turn a big wash pot upside down and sing into that, and the noise couldn’t get out….

Interviewee Formerly enslaved person	Birth Year (Age)	Interviewer WPA Volunteer	Enslaver’s Name
Callie Williams	Approx. 1861 (Unknown)	Mary A. Poole	Hiram McLemore

Interview Location	Residence State	Birth Location
Mobile, AL	AL	Unknown

Themes & Keywords	Additional Tags:
Religion, Songs	Third Person, Dialect, Slave Patrollers, Hired Out

Williams_C_3

August 12, 2020October 4, 2020

Bert Mayfield

The interviewer recorded this excerpt as a first person narrative by Bert Mayfield. In the excerpt, Bert Mayfield describes “stirring offs” – the social gatherings that accompanied work needed to make food from maple syrup. Bert Mayfield also describes the role religion played in his life. This excerpt contains two songs that were recorded by the interviewer.

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Excerpt:

…[Bert Mayfield describes how sugar was tapped from the enslaver’s maple trees. The syrup was boiled down to be useful at]…these “stirring offs” which usually took place at night.

The neighbors would usually come and bring their slaves. We played Sheep-meat and other games. Sheep-meat was a game played with a yarn ball and when one of the players was hit by the ball that counted him out. One song we would always sing was;

“Who ting-a-long?
Who ting-a-long?
Who’s been here since I’ve been gone?
A pretty girl with a josey on”.

My old missus Meg taught me how to read from an old national spelling book, but I did not learn to write. We had no church, but the Bible was read to us on Sunday afternoons by some of the white folks. The first Church I remember was the Old Fork Baptist Church… The first preacher I remember was Burdette Kemper. I heard him preach at the old church where my missus and master took me every Sunday. The first Baptizing that I remember was on Dix Fiver near Floyd’s Mill. Preacher Kemper did the Baptizing and Ellen Stone, one of our slaves was Baptized there with a number of others—whites and blacks too. When Ellen came up out of the water she was clapping her hands and shouting. One of the songs I remember at this Baptizing was:

“Come sinners and Saints and hear me tell

The wonders of E-Man-u-el,

Who brought my soul with him to dwell

And give me heavenly union.”

…On Sunday’s we would hold prayer meetings among ourselves…

Interviewee Formerly enslaved person	Birth Year (Age)	Interviewer WPA Volunteer	Enslaver’s Name
Bert Mayfield	1852 (Unknown)	Eliza Ison	Smith Stone

Interview Location	Residence State	Birth Location
Garrard County, KY	KY	Bryantsville, KY

Themes & Keywords	Additional Tags:
Garrard County, Religion, Songs, Social Gatherings, Education

Mayfield_B_2

August 12, 2020October 4, 2020

Belle Robinson

The interviewer chose to recount Belle Robinson’s story in the first person after a brief introduction. In this excerpt, Mrs. Robinson describes the little she remembers about life as an enslaved person, which she refers to as “the slave days.” Teachers may need to help students interpret this account which presents a rather benign view of slavery by noting the Belle Robinson’s age when she was enslaved, how much time had passed since then, and the context of the interview.

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Excerpt:

I [the interviewer] found Aunt Belle sitting on the porch… When I went to her and told her who I was and the reason for my visit her face beamed with smiles and she said “Lordy, it has been so long that I have forgotten nearly everything I knew”… Aunt Belle tells me:

…I was born June 3rd, 1853… Harrison Brady bought me from Ole Miss Nancy Graham and when Mr. Brady died and his property was sold Mrs. Brady bought me back; and she always said that she paid $400 for me. I lived in that family for three generations, until every one of them died. I was the only child and had always lived at the big house with my missus. I wore the same kind of clothes and ate the same kind of food the white people ate. My mother and father lived at the cabin in the yard and my mother did the cooking for the family. My father did the work on the farm with the help that was hired from the neighbors. I was too young to remember much about the slave days, but I never heard of any slaves of the neighbors being punished. My missus always took me to the Baptist Church with her. I do not remember any preacher’s names or any songs they sang.

Interviewee Formerly enslaved person	Birth Year (Age)	Interviewer WPA Volunteer	Enslaver’s Name
Belle Robinson	1853 (Unknown)	Eliza Ison	Nancy Graham, Harrison and Mrs. Brady

Interview Location	Residence State	Birth Location
Garrard County, KY	KY	Lancaster, KY

Themes & Keywords	Additional Tags:
Garrard County, Religion	First Person, Dialect, Sold

Robinson_B_1

Tag: Religion

Caroline Wright

Callie Williams

Belle Robinson

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