Sold (Self or Family) – Page 3

August 13, 2020October 4, 2020

Hannah Davidson

In the full version of the interview, the interviewer recounts in the first person the cruelty enslavers inflicted on Hannah Davidson and the other enslaved people. Hanna Davidson describes a life of continuous work and repeated whippings. Enslavers Emmette and Susan Meriwether kept Hannah Davidson, her sister, and others enslaved for over twenty one years after they were legally free. In this excerpt, recorded in the first person, Hannah Davidson describes the violence of her enslaver and how she was denied an education.

*Historically-used terms that are offensive, marginalizing and/or disparaging have been removed from the transcripts and replaced with [redacted]. See more information.

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Excerpt:

… It is best not to talk about them. The things that my sister Mary and I suffered were so terrible that people would not believe them. It is best not to have such things in our memory…

If you wanted to go to another plantation, you had to have a pass. If my folks were going to somebody’s house, they’d have to have a pass. Otherwise, they’d be whipped. They’d take a big man and tie his hands behind a tree, just like that big tree outside, and whip him with rawhide and draw blood every whip. I know I was scared every time I’d hear the slave say, ‘Pray, Master.’…

Once, Jim Ferguson, a … Black man, came to teach school. The white folks beat and whipped him and drove him away in his underwear.

I wanted so hard to learn to read, but I didn’t even know I was free, even when slavery was ended.

I had been so exhausted working, I was like an inch-worm crawling along a roof. I worked till I thought another lick would kill me. If you had something to do, you did it or got whipped. Once I was so tired I couldn’t work anymore. I crawled in a hole under the house and stayed there till I was rested….

I never will forget it–how my master always used to say, ‘Keep a [redacted] down’ I never will forget it…

The slaves tried to get schools, but they didn’t get any. Finally, they started a few schools in little log cabins. But we children, my sister and I, never went to school…

Interviewee Formerly enslaved person	Birth Year (Age)	Interviewer WPA Volunteer	Enslaver’s Name
Hannah Davidson	1852 (approx. 85)	K. Osthimer	Emmette and Susan Meriwether

Interview Location	Residence State	Birth Location
Toledo, OH	OH	KY

Themes & Keywords	Additional Tags:
Education, Violence	Ballard County, First Person, Witnessed Extreme Cruelty, Sold, Union Troops

Davidson_H_3

August 13, 2020October 2, 2020

Hannah Davidson

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Excerpt:

…We didn’t have any churches… We used to sing, ‘Swing low, sweet chariot’. When our folks sang that, we could really see the chariot…

The only fun we had was on Sunday evening, after work. That was the only chance we got. We used to go away off from the house and play in the haystack… Sundays the slaves would wash out their clothes. It was the only time they had to themselves… We never observed Christmas. We never had holidays, son, no, sir! [she is referring to the interviewer.] We didn’t know what the word was…

School? We never saw the inside of a schoolhouse. Mistress used to read the Bible to us every Sunday morning.

We sang two songs I still remember.

I think when I read that sweet story of old,

When Jesus was here among men,

How he called little children like lambs to his fold,

I should like to have been with them then.

I wish that his hands had been placed on my head,

That his arms had been thrown around me,

That I might have seen his kind face when he said

‘Let the little ones come unto me.’

Yet still to his footstool in prayer I nay go

And ask for a share of his love,

And that I might earnestly seek Him below

And see Him and hear Him above.

Then there was another:

I want to be an angel

And with the angels stand

With a crown upon my Forehead

And a harp within my hand.

And there before my Saviour,

So glorious and so bright,

I’d make the sweetest music

And praise him day and night.

And as soon as we got through singing those songs, we had to get right out to work. I was always glad when they called us in the house to Sunday school. It was the only chance we’d get to rest…

…Us kids always used to sing a song, ‘Gonna hang Jeff Davis [president of the Confederacy] to a sour apple tree as we go marchin’ home.’ I didn’t know what it meant at the time…

Interviewee Formerly enslaved person	Birth Year (Age)	Interviewer WPA Volunteer	Enslaver’s Name
Hannah Davidson	1852 (approx. 85)	K. Osthimer	Emmette and Susan Meriwether

Interview Location	Residence State	Birth Location
Toledo, OH	OH	KY

Themes & Keywords	Additional Tags:
Songs, Religion	Ballard County, First Person, Witnessed Extreme Cruelty, Sold, Union Troops,

Davidson_H_2

August 13, 2020October 4, 2020

Hannah Davidson

In the full version of the interview, the interviewer recounts in the first person the cruelty enslavers inflicted on Hannah Davidson and the other enslaved people. Hanna Davidson describes a life of continuous work and repeated whippings. Enslavers Emmette and Susan Meriwether kept Hannah Davidson, her sister, and others enslaved for over twenty one years after they were legally free. In this excerpt, recorded in the first person, Hannah Davidson describes the memories of the Civil War, the fear the KKK instilled in formerly enslaved people, and a contemporary exchange about slavery with a White stranger.

*Historically-used terms that are offensive, marginalizing and/or disparaging have been removed from the transcripts and replaced with [redacted]. See more information.

See full document • Visit the Library of Congress to see the original document

Excerpt:

… It is best not to talk about them. The things that my sister Mary and I suffered were so terrible that people would not believe them. It is best not to have such things in our memory…

My master kept me and my sister Mary twenty-two long years after we were supposed to be free. Work, work, work. I don’t think my sister and I ever went to bed before twelve o’clock at night. We never got a penny. They could have spared it, too; they had enough… We didn’t even know we were free. We had to wash the white people’s feet when they took their shoes off at night–the men and women…

All I know about the Civil War was that it was goin’ on. I heard talk about killing and so on, but I didn’t know anything about it….

I remember when Yankee soldiers came riding through the yard. I was scared and ran away crying. I can see them now. Their swords hung at their sides and their horses walked proud as if they walked on their hind legs. The master was in the field trying to hide his money and guns and things. The soldiers said, ‘We won’t hurt you, child.’ It made me feel wonderful.

What I call the Ku Klux were those people who met at night and if they heard anybody saying you were free, they would take you out at night and whip you. They were the plantation owners. I never saw them ride, but I heard about them and what they did. My master used to tell us he wished he knew who the Ku Kluxers were. But he knew, all right, I used to wait on the table and I heard them talking. ‘Gonna lynch another [redacted] tonight!’

…Well, slavery’s over and I think that’s a grand thing. A white lady recently [in the 1930s] asked me, ‘Don’t you think you were better off under the white people?’ I said ‘What you talkin’ about? The birds of the air have their freedom. I don’t know why she should ask me that anyway…

Interviewee Formerly enslaved person	Birth Year (Age)	Interviewer WPA Volunteer	Enslaver’s Name
Hannah Davidson	1852 (approx. 85)	K. Osthimer	Emmette and Susan Meriwether

Interview Location	Residence State	Birth Location
Toledo, OH	OH	KY

Themes & Keywords	Additional Tags:
Violence, Civil War, KKK	Ballard County, First Person, Witnessed Extreme Cruelty, Sold, Union Troops

Davidson_H_1

August 13, 2020October 2, 2020

George Washington Buckner

Born enslaved, Dr. George Washington Buckner moved to Indianapolis after the Civil War, where he attended the only school for Black students in the city. He later completed a teacher training program and taught Black students before earning a medical degree and becoming a doctor. In 1913, he accepted President Woodrow Wilson’s nomination and served as the American Minister [Ambassador] to Liberia, living there for several years. See the full document for a detailed description of Dr. George Washington Buckner’s education and career after enslavement.

In this interview, recorded in the third person, the interviewer shares Dr. George Washington Buckner’s memories of the Civil War.

*Historically-used terms that are offensive, marginalizing and/or disparaging have been removed from the transcripts and replaced with [redacted]. See more information.

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Excerpt:

…A story told by Dr. Buckner relates an evening at the beginning of the Civil War. “I had heard my parents talk of the war but it did not seem real to me until one night when mother came to the pallet where we slept and called to us to ‘Get up and tell our uncles good-bye.’ Then four startled little children arose. Mother was standing in the room with a candle or a sort of torch made from grease drippings and old pieces of cloth, (these rude candles were in common use and afforded but poor light) and there stood her four brothers, Jacob, John, Bill, and Isaac all with the light of adventure shining upon their [faces] … They were starting away to fight for their liberties [freedom] and we were greatly impressed.”

Dr. Buckner stated that officials thought Jacob entirely too aged to enter the service as he had a few scattered white hairs but he remembers he was brawny and unafraid. Isaac was too young but the other two uncles were accepted. One never returned because he was killed in battle but one fought throughout the war and was never wounded. He remembers how the white men were indignant because the [redacted] were allowed to enlist [join the army]…

Interviewee Formerly enslaved person	Birth Year (Age)	Interviewer WPA Volunteer	Enslaver’s Name
George Washington Buckner	1852 (Unknown)	Lauana Creel	Stanton Buckner, Dickie Buckner

Interview Location	Residence State	Birth Location
Vanderburgh County, IN	IN	KY

Themes & Keywords	Additional Tags:
Civil War	Green County, Third Person, Sold

Buckner_G_2

August 13, 2020October 2, 2020

George Washington Buckner

Born enslaved, Dr. George Washington Buckner moved to Indianapolis after the Civil War, where he attended the only school for Black students in the city. He later completed a teacher training program and taught Black students before earning a medical degree and becoming a doctor. In 1913, he accepted President Woodrow Wilson’s nomination and served as the American Minister [Ambassador] to Liberia, living there for several years. See the full document for a detailed description of Dr. George Washington Buckner’s education and career after enslavement.

In this interview, recorded in the third person, Dr. George Washington Buckner recounts how White people viewed slavery in Kentucky, his work as an enslaved person, and how he felt when his sister was sold.

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Excerpt:

…The parents [of Dr. George Washington Buckner] were slaves and served a master not wealthy enough to provide adequately for their comforts. The mother had become invalid through the task of bearing children each year and being deprived of medical and surgical attention.

The master, Mr. Buckner, along with several of his relatives had purchased a large tract of land in Green County, Kentucky and by a custom or tradition as Dr. Buckner remembers; landowners that owned no slaves were considered “Po’ White Trash” and were scarcely recognized as citizens within the state of Kentucky.

Another tradition prevailed, that slave children should be presented to the master’s young sons and daughters and become their special property even in childhood. Adhering to that tradition the child, George Washington Buckner, became the slave of young Master Dickie Buckner, and although the two children were nearly the same age the little …[mixed race enslaved] boy was obedient to the wishes of the little master. Indeed, the slave child cared for the Caucasian boy’s clothing, polished his boots, put away his toys, and was his playmate and companion as well as his slave…

Dr. Buckner remembers that when a young daughter of his master married, his sister was given to her for a bridal gift and went away from her own mother to live in the young mistress’ new home. “It always filled us with sorrow when we were separated either by circumstances of marriage or death. Although we were not properly housed, properly nourished nor properly clothed we loved each other and loved our cabin homes and were unhappy when compelled to part.”…

Interviewee Formerly enslaved person	Birth Year (Age)	Interviewer WPA Volunteer	Enslaver’s Name
George Washington Buckner	1852 (Unknown)	Lauana Creel	Stanton Buckner,Dickie Buckner

Interview Location	Residence State	Birth Location
Vanderburgh County, IN	IN	KY

Themes & Keywords	Additional Tags:
Sold, Family	Green County, Third Person, Sold,

Buckner_G_1

August 13, 2020October 4, 2020

George Thompson

In this excerpt, the interviewer records George Thompson’s memories of enslavement in the first person. After describing how enslaved people were named, George Thompson explains how despite wanting to learn how to read, his enslaver used violence to prevent him from learning.

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Excerpt:

…I [George Thompson] was quite a small boy when our family, which included an older sister, was sold to Ed. Thompson in Metcalfe Co. Kentucky, who owned about 50 other slaves, and as was the custom then we were given the name of our new master, “Thompson”.

I was hardly twelve years old when slavery was abolished, yet I can remember at this late date most of the happenings as they existed at that time.

I was so young and inexperienced when freed I remained on the Thompson plantation for four years after the war and worked for my board [shelter] and clothes as coach boy and any other odd jobs around the plantation.

I have no education, I can neither read nor write, as a slave I was not allowed to have books. On Sundays, I would go into the woods and gather ginseng which I would sell to the doctors for from 10¢ to 15¢ a pound, and with this money, I would buy a book that was called the Blue Back Speller. Our master would not allow us to have any books and when we were lucky enough to own a book we would have to keep it hidden, for if our master would find us with a book he would whip us and take the book from us. After receiving three severe whippings I gave up and never again tried for any learning, and to this day I can neither read nor write…

Interviewee Formerly enslaved person	Birth Year (Age)	Interviewer WPA Volunteer	Enslaver’s Name
George Thompson	1854 (approx. 83)	William R. Mays	Manfred Furgeson, Ed Thompson

Interview Location	Residence State	Birth Location
Johnson County, IN	IN	Hart, KY

Themes & Keywords	Additional Tags:
Education, Literacy, Emancipation, Violence	Metcalf County, Hart County, Monroe County, First Person, Whipped, Sold, Slave Patrollers

Thompson_G_1

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

August 12, 2020November 10, 2022

Barney Stone

Barney Stone was 91 years old when interviewed. He was enslaved for 16 years before he escaped and joined the Union Army during the Civil War. After the Civil War, Barney Stone was a self-taught teacher at a Black school and then became a preacher. The interviewer notes that Barney Stone had a “remarkable memory,” which is evident in the excerpt below where Barney Stone recounts multiple examples of his enslaver’s brutal treatment of enslaved people. In this excerpt, Barney Stone recounts how his enslaver sold his sister, mother and brother. The excerpt ends with Barney Stone reuniting with his mother and brother.

*Historically-used terms that are offensive, marginalizing and/or disparaging have been removed from the transcripts and replaced with [redacted]. See more information.

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Excerpt:

…Master would never sell me because I was regarded as the best young slave on the plantation. Different from many other slaves, I was kept on the plantation from the day I was born until the day I ran away…

Many times, as I have said before, our treatment on our plantation was horrible. When I was just a small boy, I witnessed my sister sold and taken away. One day one of the horses came into the barn and master noticed that she was crippled. He flew into a rage and thought I had hurt the horse, either that, or that I knew who did it. I told him that I did not do it and he demanded that I tell him who did it, if I didn’t. I did not know and when I told him so, he secured a whip tied me to a post and whipped me until I was covered with blood. I begged him, “Master, master, please don’t whip me, I do not know who did it.” He then took out his pocket knife and I would have been killed if Missus (his dear wife) had not made him quit. She untied me and cared for me.

Many has been the time, I have seen my mammy beaten mercilessly and for no good reason. One day, not long before the out-break of the Civil War, a [redacted] buyer came and I witnessed my dear Mammy and my one year old baby brother, sold. I saw her taken away, never to see her again until I found her twenty-seven years later at Clarksburg, Tennessee. My baby brother was with her, but I did not know him until Mammy told me who he was, he had grown into a large man. That was a happy meeting. After those experiences of sixteen long years in Hell, as a slave, I was very bitter against the white man, until after I ran away and joined the Union army.

Interviewee Formerly enslaved person	Birth Year (Age)	Interviewer WPA Volunteer	Enslaver’s Name
Barney Stone	1847 (91)	Robert C. Irvin	Lemuel Stone

Interview Location	Residence State	Birth Location
Noblesville, IN	KY	KY

Themes & Keywords	Additional Tags:
Family, Violence, Escape, Resistance	First Person, Third Person, Whipped, Witness Extreme Cruelty, Sold, Slave Traders, Union Troops, Veteran or Widow, Notable, Spencer County

Stone_B_3

August 12, 2020November 10, 2022

Barney Stone

Barney Stone was 91 years old when interviewed. He was enslaved for 16 years before he escaped and joined the Union Army during the Civil War. After the Civil War, Barney Stone was a self-taught teacher at a Black school and then became a preacher. The interviewer notes that Barney Stone had a “remarkable memory,” which is evident in the excerpt below where Barney Stone explains the practice of buying and selling enslaved people.

*Historically-used terms that are offensive, marginalizing and/or disparaging have been removed from the transcripts and replaced with [redacted]. See more information.

See full document • Visit the Library of Congress to see the original document

Excerpt:

My master was a hard man when he was angry, drinking, or not feeling well, then at times he was kind to us. I was compelled to pick cotton and do other work when I was a very small boy. Master would never sell me because I was regarded as the best young slave on the plantation. Different from many other slaves, I was kept on the plantation from the day I was born until the day I ran away.

Slaves were sold in two ways, sometimes at private sale to a man who went about the Southland buying slaves until he has many in his possession, then he would have a big auction sale and would re-sell them to the highest bidder, much in the same manner as our live-stock [farm animals] are sold now in auction sales… He came to the plantation with a doctor. He would point out two or three slaves which looked good to him and which could be spared by the owner, and would have the doctor examine the slave’s heart. If the doctor pronounced the slave as sound, then the [redacted] buyer would make an offer to the owner and if the amount was satisfactory, the slave was sold. Some large plantation owners, having a large number of slaves, would hold a public auction and dispose of some of them, then he would attend another sale and buy new slaves, this was done sometimes to get better slaves and sometimes to make money on the sale of them.

Interviewee Formerly enslaved person	Birth Year (Age)	Interviewer WPA Volunteer	Enslaver’s Name
Barney Stone	1847 (91)	Robert C. Irvin	Lemuel Stone

Interview Location	Residence State	Birth Location
Noblesville, IN	KY	KY

Themes & Keywords	Additional Tags:
Economics	First Person, Third Person, Whipped, Witness Extreme Cruelty, Sold, Slave Traders, Union Troops, Veteran or Widow, Notable, Spencer County

Stone_B_2

August 12, 2020November 10, 2022

Barney Stone

Barney Stone was 91 years old when interviewed. He was enslaved for 16 years before he escaped and joined the Union Army during the Civil War. After the Civil War, Barney Stone was a self-taught teacher at a Black school and then became a preacher. Earlier in the interview, Barney Stone explains how he witnessed his enslaver sell his sister, mother and brother. He also recounts how his enslaver brutally whipped him, and other examples of cruelty towards enslaved people. In this excerpt, Barney Stone explains how he joined the Union Army and his experience during the Civil War.

*Historically-used terms that are offensive, marginalizing and/or disparaging have been removed from the transcripts and replaced with [redacted]. See more information.

See full document • Visit the Library of Congress to see the original document

Source Description:

… After those experiences of sixteen long years in Hell, as a slave, I was very bitter against the white man, until after I ran away and joined the Union army.

At the out-break of the Civil War and when the Northern [Union] army was marching into the Southland, hundreds of male slaves were shot down by the Rebels [Confederates], rather than see them join with the Yankees [Union soldiers]. One day when I learned that the Northern troops were very close to our plantation, I ran away and hid in a culvert [tunnel for water], but was found and I would have been shot – had the Yankee troops not scattered them – and that saved me. I joined the Union army and served one year, eight months and twenty-two days, and fought with them in the battle of Fort Wagnor, and also in the battle of Milikin’s Bend. When I went into the army, I could not read or write. The white soldiers took an interest in me and taught me to write and read, and when the war was over I could write a very good letter. I taught what little I knew to [redacted] children after the War…

Interviewee Formerly enslaved person	Birth Year (Age)	Interviewer WPA Volunteer	Enslaver’s Name
Barney Stone	1847 (91)	Robert C. Irvin	Lemuel Stone

Interview Location	Residence State	Birth Location
Noblesville, IN	KY	KY

Themes & Keywords	Additional Tags:
Civil War, Literacy, Education	First Person, Third Person, Whipped, Witness Extreme Cruelty, Sold, Slave Traders, Union Troops, Veteran or Widow, Notable, Spencer County

Stone_B_1