Quotes: Books 3 and 4 from I WAS A SLAVE
Slave Women and Slave Breeding
I WAS A SLAVE: Book 3:
The Lives of Slave Women
CHENEY CROSS:
“I was brung up right in de house wid my white folks. Yessum, I slep’ on de little trundler bed what pushed up under de big bed, in durinst de day. I watched over dem chillun day an’ night. I washed ’em an’ fed ’em an’ played wid ’em. Gran’mammy an’ Mammy wove de cloth for de hands’ [field hands = field slaves] clothes. ... I was allus [always] dressed in white clothes all frill’ up wid starch an’ ribbon an’ sich [such]. Us had our shoes store bought... Field hands gone barefoot, ’ceptin’ in de winter, an’ den dey had to prepare dey own shoes. Dat was de way it went. You had to prepare for youself an’ if you ain’t hab de head to do dat, den you went widout. Dey had a hard time. I don’t see how dey manage, but I allus say de Lawd [Lord] was wid ’em."
I WAS A SLAVE: Book 4:
The Breeding of Slaves
MARY INGRAM:
“ ’Twarn’t any mai’iage ’lowed on de plantation ’twix’ some. De marster, he tell who can git mai’ied an’ who can’t. Him select de po’tly [portly = large] and p’lific womens, an’ de po’tly man, an’ use sich fo’ de breeder an’ de father of de women’s chilluns. De womens dat am selected am not ’lowed to mai’y [marry]. De chilluns dat am bo’n dat way don’t know any father. De womens have nothin’ to says ’bout de ’rangement. If she am po’tly an’ well-formed, deys fo’ced her wid de breeder. ... W’y don’ weuns refuse? Shucks, man, yous don’ know w’at yous says. De rawhide whup [whip] keeps you f’om refusin’. Ise know ’cause Ise see de young girls cryin’, an’ dey gits whupped ’cause deys stubbo’n. De ol’ women ’vise de girls dat ’twarn’t no use to refuse. Dat it jus’ makes it wo’se fo’ dem.”
Books 5 and 6 >