Station 1: 13, 14, & 15th Amendment
The 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution
Article XIII.
Section 1. Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.
Section 2. Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.
Ratified December 6, 1865
The 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution
Article XIV.
Section 1. All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.
Section 2. Representatives shall be apportioned among the several States according to their respective numbers, counting the whole number of persons in each State, excluding Indians not taxed. But when the right to vote at any election for the choice of electors for President and Vice President of the United States, Representatives in Congress, the Executive and Judicial officers of a State, or the members of the Legislature thereof, is denied to any of the male inhabitants of such State, being twenty-one years of age, and citizens of the United States, or in any way abridged, except for participation in rebellion, or other crime, the basis of representation therein shall be reduced in the proportion which the number of such male citizens shall bear to the whole number of male citizens twenty-one years of age in such State.
Section 3. No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice-President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any State, who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any State legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any State, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof. But Congress may by a vote of two-thirds of each House, remove such disability.
Section 4. The validity of the public debt of the United States, authorized by law, including debts incurred for payment of pensions and bounties for services in suppressing insurrection or rebellion, shall not be questioned. But neither the United States nor any State shall assume or pay any debt or obligation incurred in aid of insurrection or rebellion against the United States, or any claim for the loss or emancipation of any slave; but all such debts, obligations and claims shall be held illegal and void.
Section 5. The Congress shall have power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article.
Ratified July 9, 1868
The 15th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution
Article XV.
Section 1. The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.
Section 2. The Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.
Ratified February 3, 1870
Station #2- Black Codes (Louisiana)
...Sec. 1. Be it ordained by the police jury of the parish of St. Landry, That no negro shall be allowed to pass within the limits of said parish without special permit in writing from his employer. Whoever shall violate this provision shall pay a fine of two dollars and fifty cents, or in default thereof shall be forced to work four days on the public road, or suffer corporal punishment as provided hereinafter. . . .
Sec. 3. . . . No negro shall be permitted to rent or keep a house within said parish. Any negro violating this provision shall be immediately ejected and compelled to find an employer; and any person who shall rent, or give the use of any house to any negro, in violation of this section, shall pay a fine of five dollars for each offence.
Sec. 4. . . . Every negro is required to be in the regular service of some white person, or former owner, who shall be held responsible for the conduct of said negro. But said employer or former owner may permit said negro to hire his own time by special permission in writing, which permission shall not extend over seven days at any one time. . . .
Sec. 5. . . . No public meetings or congregations of negroes shall be allowed within said parish after sunset; but such public meetings and congregations may be held between the hours of sunrise and sunset, by the special permission in writing of the captain of patrol, within whose beat such meetings shall take place. . . .
Sec. 6. . . . No negro shall be permitted to preach, exhort, or otherwise declaim to congregations of colored people, without a special permission in writing from the president of the police jury. . . .
Sec. 7. . . . No negro who is not in the military service shall be allowed to carry fire-arms, or any kind of weapons, within the parish, without the special written permission of his employers, approved and indorsed by the nearest and most convenient chief of patrol. . . .
Sec. 8. . . . No negro shall sell, barter, or exchange any articles of merchandise or traffic within said parish without the special written permission of his employer, specifying the article of sale, barter or traffic. . . .
Sec. 9. . . . Any negro found drunk, within the said parish shall pay a fine of five dollars, or in default thereof work five days on the public road, or suffer corporal punishment as hereinafter provided.
Sec. 11. . . . It shall be the duty of every citizen to act as a police officer for the detection of offences and the apprehension of offenders, who shall be immediately handed over to the proper captain or chief of patrol. . . .
...Sec. 1. Be it ordained by the police jury of the parish of St. Landry, That no negro shall be allowed to pass within the limits of said parish without special permit in writing from his employer. Whoever shall violate this provision shall pay a fine of two dollars and fifty cents, or in default thereof shall be forced to work four days on the public road, or suffer corporal punishment as provided hereinafter. . . .
Sec. 3. . . . No negro shall be permitted to rent or keep a house within said parish. Any negro violating this provision shall be immediately ejected and compelled to find an employer; and any person who shall rent, or give the use of any house to any negro, in violation of this section, shall pay a fine of five dollars for each offence.
Sec. 4. . . . Every negro is required to be in the regular service of some white person, or former owner, who shall be held responsible for the conduct of said negro. But said employer or former owner may permit said negro to hire his own time by special permission in writing, which permission shall not extend over seven days at any one time. . . .
Sec. 5. . . . No public meetings or congregations of negroes shall be allowed within said parish after sunset; but such public meetings and congregations may be held between the hours of sunrise and sunset, by the special permission in writing of the captain of patrol, within whose beat such meetings shall take place. . . .
Sec. 6. . . . No negro shall be permitted to preach, exhort, or otherwise declaim to congregations of colored people, without a special permission in writing from the president of the police jury. . . .
Sec. 7. . . . No negro who is not in the military service shall be allowed to carry fire-arms, or any kind of weapons, within the parish, without the special written permission of his employers, approved and indorsed by the nearest and most convenient chief of patrol. . . .
Sec. 8. . . . No negro shall sell, barter, or exchange any articles of merchandise or traffic within said parish without the special written permission of his employer, specifying the article of sale, barter or traffic. . . .
Sec. 9. . . . Any negro found drunk, within the said parish shall pay a fine of five dollars, or in default thereof work five days on the public road, or suffer corporal punishment as hereinafter provided.
Sec. 11. . . . It shall be the duty of every citizen to act as a police officer for the detection of offences and the apprehension of offenders, who shall be immediately handed over to the proper captain or chief of patrol. . . .
Station #3- Reconstruction Plans
Lincoln Reconstruction Plan
December 1863 Abraham Lincoln had thought about the process of restoring the Union from the earliest days of the war. His guiding principles were to accomplish the task as rapidly as possible and ignore calls for punishing the South. Unlike the Radical Republicans, it was Lincoln’s belief that the Southern states had not really left the Union since it was never constitutionally possible. In late 1863, Lincoln announced a formal plan for reconstruction: 1. A general amnesty would be granted to all who would take an oath of loyalty to the United States and pledge to obey all federal laws pertaining to slavery 2. High Confederate officials and military leaders were to be temporarily excluded from the process 3. When one-tenth of the number of voters who had participated in the 1860 election had taken the oath within a particular state, then that state could launch a new government and elect representatives to Congress. The states of Louisiana, Arkansas and Tennessee rapidly acted to comply with these terms. However, the Lincoln plan was not acceptable to Congress.
The Radical Republicans voiced immediate opposition to Lincoln’s reconstruction plan, objecting to its leniency and lack of protections for freed slaves. Congress refused to accept the rehabilitation of Tennessee, Arkansas and Louisiana. In July 1864, Congress passed the Wade-Davis Bill, their own formula for restoring the Union: 1. A state must have a majority within its borders take the oath of loyalty 2. A state must formally abolish slavery 3. No Confederate officials could participate in the new governments. Lincoln did not approve of this plan and exercised his pocket veto. An angry Congress would later pass the Wade-Davis Manifesto (August 1864), which charged Lincoln with usurping the powers of Congress. This statement would have little impact on the public as the military news from the South improved; Sherman’s Atlanta Campaign restored Lincoln’s popularity and helped assure his reelection.
Andrew Johnson Reconstruction Plan
The looming showdown between Lincoln and the Congress over competing reconstruction plans never occurred. The president was assassinated on April 14, 1865. His successor, Andrew Johnson of Tennessee, lacked his predecessor’s skills in handling people; those skills would be badly missed. Johnson’s plan envisioned the following: • Pardons would be granted to those taking a loyalty oath • No pardons would be available to high Confederate officials and persons owning property valued in excess of $20,000 • A state needed to abolish slavery before being readmitted (13th Amendment) • A state was required to repeal its secession ordinance before being readmitted. What should be done for the Freedmen? • African Americans should be guaranteed equal rights only if individual states want to grant them to the freedmen.
The federal government should not force Southern governments to accept new laws regarding freedmen. Whether or not to give freedmen education, money, jobs, or other supports would be left up to the states • African Americans should not be given the right to vote. Only certain Freedmen could be trusted to vote, like those who could read and write. Most of the seceded states began compliance with the president’s program. Congress was not in session, so there was no immediate objection from that quarter. However, Congress reconvened in December and refused to seat the Southern representatives. Reconstruction had produced another deadlock between the president and Congress.
Radical Republican Reconstruction Plan
The postwar Radical Republicans were motivated by three main factors: 1. Revenge—a desire among some to punish the South for causing the war and a belief that the Southern states had, in fact, seceded and were conquered territory. 2. Concern for the freedmen—some believed that the federal government had a role to play in the transition of freedmen from slavery to freedom 3. Political concerns—the Radicals wanted to keep the Republican Party in power in both the North and the South. Northern Requirements of the Southern States: 1. The Southern states would be ruled by the military until all new laws and provisions set forth were enforced. 2. Each state would call a convention to write a new Constitution. 3. Guarantee African Americans full rights as citizens (14th Amendment) 4. Guarantee African Americans the right to vote. (15th Amendment) 5. Former Confederate officials and army officers barred from voting or holding political office.
If the South were to fall back into Democratic hands, the Radical Republican program would suffer. This threat brought many Republicans around to supporting the vote for blacks (Fifteenth Amendment). Grateful freedmen voting Republican would help to maintain the status quo. The postwar Congress pushed through a number of measures designed to assist the freedmen, but also demonstrate the supremacy of Congress over the president.
These measures included the Civil Rights Act of 1866, the Fourteenth Amendment, the Tenure of Office Act and the Army Appropriations Act. The culmination of this process occurred in 1867 and 1868 when Congress passed a series of Reconstruction Acts; these measures were implemented and constituted the final restoration program for the South. The Radical Republicans in Congress, however, were not satisfied until they dealt with their chief tormenter in the impeachment of Andrew Johnson.
Lincoln Reconstruction Plan
December 1863 Abraham Lincoln had thought about the process of restoring the Union from the earliest days of the war. His guiding principles were to accomplish the task as rapidly as possible and ignore calls for punishing the South. Unlike the Radical Republicans, it was Lincoln’s belief that the Southern states had not really left the Union since it was never constitutionally possible. In late 1863, Lincoln announced a formal plan for reconstruction: 1. A general amnesty would be granted to all who would take an oath of loyalty to the United States and pledge to obey all federal laws pertaining to slavery 2. High Confederate officials and military leaders were to be temporarily excluded from the process 3. When one-tenth of the number of voters who had participated in the 1860 election had taken the oath within a particular state, then that state could launch a new government and elect representatives to Congress. The states of Louisiana, Arkansas and Tennessee rapidly acted to comply with these terms. However, the Lincoln plan was not acceptable to Congress.
The Radical Republicans voiced immediate opposition to Lincoln’s reconstruction plan, objecting to its leniency and lack of protections for freed slaves. Congress refused to accept the rehabilitation of Tennessee, Arkansas and Louisiana. In July 1864, Congress passed the Wade-Davis Bill, their own formula for restoring the Union: 1. A state must have a majority within its borders take the oath of loyalty 2. A state must formally abolish slavery 3. No Confederate officials could participate in the new governments. Lincoln did not approve of this plan and exercised his pocket veto. An angry Congress would later pass the Wade-Davis Manifesto (August 1864), which charged Lincoln with usurping the powers of Congress. This statement would have little impact on the public as the military news from the South improved; Sherman’s Atlanta Campaign restored Lincoln’s popularity and helped assure his reelection.
Andrew Johnson Reconstruction Plan
The looming showdown between Lincoln and the Congress over competing reconstruction plans never occurred. The president was assassinated on April 14, 1865. His successor, Andrew Johnson of Tennessee, lacked his predecessor’s skills in handling people; those skills would be badly missed. Johnson’s plan envisioned the following: • Pardons would be granted to those taking a loyalty oath • No pardons would be available to high Confederate officials and persons owning property valued in excess of $20,000 • A state needed to abolish slavery before being readmitted (13th Amendment) • A state was required to repeal its secession ordinance before being readmitted. What should be done for the Freedmen? • African Americans should be guaranteed equal rights only if individual states want to grant them to the freedmen.
The federal government should not force Southern governments to accept new laws regarding freedmen. Whether or not to give freedmen education, money, jobs, or other supports would be left up to the states • African Americans should not be given the right to vote. Only certain Freedmen could be trusted to vote, like those who could read and write. Most of the seceded states began compliance with the president’s program. Congress was not in session, so there was no immediate objection from that quarter. However, Congress reconvened in December and refused to seat the Southern representatives. Reconstruction had produced another deadlock between the president and Congress.
Radical Republican Reconstruction Plan
The postwar Radical Republicans were motivated by three main factors: 1. Revenge—a desire among some to punish the South for causing the war and a belief that the Southern states had, in fact, seceded and were conquered territory. 2. Concern for the freedmen—some believed that the federal government had a role to play in the transition of freedmen from slavery to freedom 3. Political concerns—the Radicals wanted to keep the Republican Party in power in both the North and the South. Northern Requirements of the Southern States: 1. The Southern states would be ruled by the military until all new laws and provisions set forth were enforced. 2. Each state would call a convention to write a new Constitution. 3. Guarantee African Americans full rights as citizens (14th Amendment) 4. Guarantee African Americans the right to vote. (15th Amendment) 5. Former Confederate officials and army officers barred from voting or holding political office.
If the South were to fall back into Democratic hands, the Radical Republican program would suffer. This threat brought many Republicans around to supporting the vote for blacks (Fifteenth Amendment). Grateful freedmen voting Republican would help to maintain the status quo. The postwar Congress pushed through a number of measures designed to assist the freedmen, but also demonstrate the supremacy of Congress over the president.
These measures included the Civil Rights Act of 1866, the Fourteenth Amendment, the Tenure of Office Act and the Army Appropriations Act. The culmination of this process occurred in 1867 and 1868 when Congress passed a series of Reconstruction Acts; these measures were implemented and constituted the final restoration program for the South. The Radical Republicans in Congress, however, were not satisfied until they dealt with their chief tormenter in the impeachment of Andrew Johnson.
Station #4- Narrative of Henry Blake
Slave Narrative of Henry BlakeInterviewer: Samuel S. Taylor
Person Interviewed: Henry Blake
Age: 80, or more
Location: Rear of 1500 Scott Street, Little Rock, Arkansas
Occupation: Farming and junk, when able
[HW: Drove a “Horsepower Gin Wagon”]
“I was born March 16, 1863, they tell me. I was born in Arkansas right down here on Tenth and Spring Streets in Little Rock. That was all woods then. We children had to go in at night. You could hear the wolves and the bears and things. We had to make a big fire at night to keep the wolves and varmints away.
“My father was a skiffman. He used to cross the Arkansas River in a ferry-boat. My father’s name was Doc Blake. And my mother’s name was Hannah Williams before she morried.
“My father’s mother’s name was Susie somethin’; I done forgot. That is too far back for me. My mother’s mother was named Susie—Susie Williams.
“My father’s master was named Jim Paty. My father was a slavery man. I was too. I used to drive a horsepower gin wagon in slavery time. That was at Pastoria. Just this side of Pine Bluff—about three or four miles this side. Paty had two places-one about four miles from Pine Bluff and the other about four miles from England on the river.
“When I was driving that horsepower gin wagon. I was about seven or eight years old. There wasn’t nothin’ hard about it. Just hitch the mules to one another’s tail and drive them ’round and ’round. There wasn’t no lines. Just hitch them to one another’s tail and tell them to git up. You’d pull a lever when you wanted them to stop. The mule wasn’t hard to manage.
“We ginned two or three bales of cotton a day. We ginned all the summer. It would be June before we got that cotton all ginned. Cotton brought thirty-five or forty cents a pound then.
“I was treated nicely. My father and mother were too. Others were not treated so well. But you know how Negroes is. They would slip off and go out. If they caught them, he would put them in a log hut they had for a jail. If you wanted to be with a woman, you would have to go to your boss man and ask him and he would let you go.
“My daddy was sold for five hundred dollars—put on the block, up on a stump—they called it a block. Jim Paty sold him. I forget the name of the man he was sold to—Watts, I think it was.
“After slavery we had to get in before night too. If you didn’t, Ku Klux would drive you in. They would come and visit you anyway. They had something on that they could pour a lot of water in. They would seem to be drinking the water and it would all be going in this thing. They was gittin’ it to water the horses with, and when they got away from you they would stop and give it to the horses. When he got you good and scared he would drive on away. They would whip you if they would catch you out in the night time.
“My daddy had a horse they couldn’t catch. It would run right away from you. My daddy trained it so that it would run away from any one who would come near it. He would take me up on that horse and we would sail away. Those Ku Klux couldn’t catch him. They never did catch him. They caught many another one and whipped him. My daddy was a pretty mean man. He carried a gun and he had shot two or three men. Those were bad times. I got scared to go out with him. I hated that business. But directly it got over with. It got over with when a lot of the Ku Klux was killed up.
“In slavery time they would raise children just like you would raise colts to a mare or calves to a cow or pigs to a sow. It was just a business It was a bad thing. But it was better than the county farm. They didn’t whip you if you worked. Out there at the county farm, they bust you open. They bust you up till you can’t work. There’s a lot of people down at the state farm at Cummins—that’s where the farm is ain’t it—that’s raw and bloody. They wouldn’t let you come down there and write no history. No Lawd! You better not try it. One half the world don’t know how the other half lives. I’ll tell you one thing, if those Catholics could get control there would be a good time all over this world. The Catholics are good folks.
“That gang that got after you if you let the sun go down while you were out—that’s called the Pateroles. Some folks call ’em the Ku Klux. It was all the same old poor white trash. They kept up that business for about ten years after the War. They kept it up till folks began to kill up a lot of ’em. That’s the only thing that stopped them. My daddy used to make his own bullets.
“I’ve forgot who it is that told us that we was free. Somebody come and told us we’re free now. I done forgot who it was.
“Right after the War, my father farmed a while and after that he pulled a skiff. You know Jim Lawson’s place. He stayed on it twenty years. He stayed at the Ferguson place about ten years. They’re adjoining places. He stayed at the Churchill place. Widow Scott place, the Bojean place. That’s all. Have you been down in Argenta to the Roundhouse? Churchill’s place runs way down to there. It wasn’t nothing but farms in Little Rock then. The river road was the only one there at that time. It would take a day to cone down from Clear Lake with the cotton. You would start ’round about midnight and you would get to Argenta at nine o’clock the next morning. The roads was always bad.
“After freedom, we worked on shares a while. Then we rented. When we worked on shares, we couldn’t make nothing—Just overalls and something to eat. Half went to the other man and you would destroy your half if you weren’t careful. A man that didn’t know how to count would always lose. He might lose anyhow. They didn’t give no itemized statement. No, you just had to take their word. They never give you no details. They just say you owe so much. No matter how good account you kept, you had to go by their account and now, Brother, I’m tellin’ you the truth about this. It’s been that way for a long time. You had to take the white man’s work on notes and everything. Anything you wanted, you could git if you were a good hand. You could git anything you wanted as long as you worked. If you didn’t make no money, that’s all right; they would advance you more. But you better not leave him—you better not try to leave and get caught. They’d keep you in debt. They were sharp. Christmas come, you could take up twenty dollars in somethin’ to eat and much as you wanted in whiskey. You could buy a gallon of whiskey. Anything that kept you a slave because he was always right and you were always wrong if there was difference. If there was an argument, he would get mad and there would be a shooting take place.
“And you know how some Negroes is. Long as they could git somethin’, they didn’t care. You see, if the white man came out behind, he would feed you, let you have what you wanted. He’d just keep you on, help you get on your feet—that is, if you were a good hand. But if you weren’t a good hand, he’d just let you have enough to keep you alive. A good hand could take care of forty or fifty acres of land and would have a large family. A good hand could git clothes, food, whiskey, whenever he wanted it. My father had nine children and took care of them. Not all of them by one wife. He was married twice. He was married to one in slavery time and to another after the War. I was a child of the first one. I got a sister still living down here in Galloway station that is mighty nigh ninety years old. No, she must be a hundred. Her name is Frances Dobbins. When you git ready to go down there, I’ll tell you how to find that place jus’ like I told you how to fin’ this one. Galloway is only ’bout four miles from Rose City.
“I been married twice in my life. My first woman, she died. The second lady, she is still living. We dissolved friendship in 1913. Least-wise, I walked out and give her my home. I used to own a home at twenty-first and Pulaski.
“I belong to the Baptist Church at Wrightsville. I used to belong to Arch Street. Was a deacon there for about twelve years. But they had too much splittin’ and goin’ on and I got out. I’ll tell you more sometime.”
Interviewer’s Comment
Henry Blake’s age appears in excess of eighty. His idea of seventy-five is based on what someone told him. He is certain that he drove a “Horsepower Gin Wagon” during “slavery times”, and that he was seven or eight when he drove it. Even if that were in ’65, he would be at least eighty years old—seventy-three years since the War plus seven years of his life. His manner of narration would indicate that he drove earlier.
The interview was held in a dark room, and for the first time in my life I took notes without seeing the paper on which I was writing.
Slave Narrative of Henry BlakeInterviewer: Samuel S. Taylor
Person Interviewed: Henry Blake
Age: 80, or more
Location: Rear of 1500 Scott Street, Little Rock, Arkansas
Occupation: Farming and junk, when able
[HW: Drove a “Horsepower Gin Wagon”]
“I was born March 16, 1863, they tell me. I was born in Arkansas right down here on Tenth and Spring Streets in Little Rock. That was all woods then. We children had to go in at night. You could hear the wolves and the bears and things. We had to make a big fire at night to keep the wolves and varmints away.
“My father was a skiffman. He used to cross the Arkansas River in a ferry-boat. My father’s name was Doc Blake. And my mother’s name was Hannah Williams before she morried.
“My father’s mother’s name was Susie somethin’; I done forgot. That is too far back for me. My mother’s mother was named Susie—Susie Williams.
“My father’s master was named Jim Paty. My father was a slavery man. I was too. I used to drive a horsepower gin wagon in slavery time. That was at Pastoria. Just this side of Pine Bluff—about three or four miles this side. Paty had two places-one about four miles from Pine Bluff and the other about four miles from England on the river.
“When I was driving that horsepower gin wagon. I was about seven or eight years old. There wasn’t nothin’ hard about it. Just hitch the mules to one another’s tail and drive them ’round and ’round. There wasn’t no lines. Just hitch them to one another’s tail and tell them to git up. You’d pull a lever when you wanted them to stop. The mule wasn’t hard to manage.
“We ginned two or three bales of cotton a day. We ginned all the summer. It would be June before we got that cotton all ginned. Cotton brought thirty-five or forty cents a pound then.
“I was treated nicely. My father and mother were too. Others were not treated so well. But you know how Negroes is. They would slip off and go out. If they caught them, he would put them in a log hut they had for a jail. If you wanted to be with a woman, you would have to go to your boss man and ask him and he would let you go.
“My daddy was sold for five hundred dollars—put on the block, up on a stump—they called it a block. Jim Paty sold him. I forget the name of the man he was sold to—Watts, I think it was.
“After slavery we had to get in before night too. If you didn’t, Ku Klux would drive you in. They would come and visit you anyway. They had something on that they could pour a lot of water in. They would seem to be drinking the water and it would all be going in this thing. They was gittin’ it to water the horses with, and when they got away from you they would stop and give it to the horses. When he got you good and scared he would drive on away. They would whip you if they would catch you out in the night time.
“My daddy had a horse they couldn’t catch. It would run right away from you. My daddy trained it so that it would run away from any one who would come near it. He would take me up on that horse and we would sail away. Those Ku Klux couldn’t catch him. They never did catch him. They caught many another one and whipped him. My daddy was a pretty mean man. He carried a gun and he had shot two or three men. Those were bad times. I got scared to go out with him. I hated that business. But directly it got over with. It got over with when a lot of the Ku Klux was killed up.
“In slavery time they would raise children just like you would raise colts to a mare or calves to a cow or pigs to a sow. It was just a business It was a bad thing. But it was better than the county farm. They didn’t whip you if you worked. Out there at the county farm, they bust you open. They bust you up till you can’t work. There’s a lot of people down at the state farm at Cummins—that’s where the farm is ain’t it—that’s raw and bloody. They wouldn’t let you come down there and write no history. No Lawd! You better not try it. One half the world don’t know how the other half lives. I’ll tell you one thing, if those Catholics could get control there would be a good time all over this world. The Catholics are good folks.
“That gang that got after you if you let the sun go down while you were out—that’s called the Pateroles. Some folks call ’em the Ku Klux. It was all the same old poor white trash. They kept up that business for about ten years after the War. They kept it up till folks began to kill up a lot of ’em. That’s the only thing that stopped them. My daddy used to make his own bullets.
“I’ve forgot who it is that told us that we was free. Somebody come and told us we’re free now. I done forgot who it was.
“Right after the War, my father farmed a while and after that he pulled a skiff. You know Jim Lawson’s place. He stayed on it twenty years. He stayed at the Ferguson place about ten years. They’re adjoining places. He stayed at the Churchill place. Widow Scott place, the Bojean place. That’s all. Have you been down in Argenta to the Roundhouse? Churchill’s place runs way down to there. It wasn’t nothing but farms in Little Rock then. The river road was the only one there at that time. It would take a day to cone down from Clear Lake with the cotton. You would start ’round about midnight and you would get to Argenta at nine o’clock the next morning. The roads was always bad.
“After freedom, we worked on shares a while. Then we rented. When we worked on shares, we couldn’t make nothing—Just overalls and something to eat. Half went to the other man and you would destroy your half if you weren’t careful. A man that didn’t know how to count would always lose. He might lose anyhow. They didn’t give no itemized statement. No, you just had to take their word. They never give you no details. They just say you owe so much. No matter how good account you kept, you had to go by their account and now, Brother, I’m tellin’ you the truth about this. It’s been that way for a long time. You had to take the white man’s work on notes and everything. Anything you wanted, you could git if you were a good hand. You could git anything you wanted as long as you worked. If you didn’t make no money, that’s all right; they would advance you more. But you better not leave him—you better not try to leave and get caught. They’d keep you in debt. They were sharp. Christmas come, you could take up twenty dollars in somethin’ to eat and much as you wanted in whiskey. You could buy a gallon of whiskey. Anything that kept you a slave because he was always right and you were always wrong if there was difference. If there was an argument, he would get mad and there would be a shooting take place.
“And you know how some Negroes is. Long as they could git somethin’, they didn’t care. You see, if the white man came out behind, he would feed you, let you have what you wanted. He’d just keep you on, help you get on your feet—that is, if you were a good hand. But if you weren’t a good hand, he’d just let you have enough to keep you alive. A good hand could take care of forty or fifty acres of land and would have a large family. A good hand could git clothes, food, whiskey, whenever he wanted it. My father had nine children and took care of them. Not all of them by one wife. He was married twice. He was married to one in slavery time and to another after the War. I was a child of the first one. I got a sister still living down here in Galloway station that is mighty nigh ninety years old. No, she must be a hundred. Her name is Frances Dobbins. When you git ready to go down there, I’ll tell you how to find that place jus’ like I told you how to fin’ this one. Galloway is only ’bout four miles from Rose City.
“I been married twice in my life. My first woman, she died. The second lady, she is still living. We dissolved friendship in 1913. Least-wise, I walked out and give her my home. I used to own a home at twenty-first and Pulaski.
“I belong to the Baptist Church at Wrightsville. I used to belong to Arch Street. Was a deacon there for about twelve years. But they had too much splittin’ and goin’ on and I got out. I’ll tell you more sometime.”
Interviewer’s Comment
Henry Blake’s age appears in excess of eighty. His idea of seventy-five is based on what someone told him. He is certain that he drove a “Horsepower Gin Wagon” during “slavery times”, and that he was seven or eight when he drove it. Even if that were in ’65, he would be at least eighty years old—seventy-three years since the War plus seven years of his life. His manner of narration would indicate that he drove earlier.
The interview was held in a dark room, and for the first time in my life I took notes without seeing the paper on which I was writing.
Station #5- Address to the Loyal Citizens and Congress of the United States
Address of a convention of Negroes held in Alexandria Virginia August 1865We , the undersigned members of a Convention of colored citizens of the State of Virginia, would respectfully represent that, although we have been held as slaves, and denied all recognition as a constituent of your nationality for almost the entire period of the duration of your Government, and that by your permission we have been denied either home or country, and deprived of the dearest rights of human nature: yet when you and our immediate oppressors met in deadly conflict upon the field of battle -the one to destroy and the other to save your Government and nationality, we, with scarce an exception, in our inmost souls espoused your cause, and watched, and prayed, and waited, and labored for your success.
When the contest waxed long, and the result hung doubtfully, you appealed to us for help, and how well we answered is written in the rosters of the two hundred thousand colored troops now enrolled in your service; and as to our undying devotion to your cause, let the uniform acclamation of escaped prisoners, "whenever we saw a black face we felt sure of a friend," answer.
Well, the war is over, the rebellion is "put down," and we are declared free! Four fifths of our enemies are paroled or amnestied, and the other fifth are being pardoned, and the President has, in his efforts at the reconstruction of the civil government of the States, late in rebellion, left us entirely at the mercy of these subjugated but unconverted rebels, in everything save the privilege of bringing us, our wives and little ones, to the auction block. . . . We know these men-know them well-and we assure you that, with the majority of them, loyalty is only "lip deep," and that their professions of loyalty are used as a cover to the cherished design of getting restored to their former relations with the Federal Government, and then, by all sorts of "unfriendly legislation," to render the freedom you have given us more intolerable than the slavery they intended for us.
We warn you in time that our only safety is in keep ing them under Governors of the military persuasion until you have so amended the Federal Constitution that it will prohibit the States from making any distinction between citizens on account of race or color. In one word, the only salvation for us besides the power of the Government, is in the possession of the ballot. Give us this, and we will protect ourselves. . . . But, is said we are ignorant. Admit it. Yet who denies we know a traitor from a loyal man, a gentleman from a rowdy, a friend from an enemy? The twelve thousand colored votes of the State of New York sent Governor Seymour home and Reuben E. Fenton to Albany. Did not they know who to vote for? . . . All we ask is an equal chance with the white traitors varnished and japanned with the oath of amnesty. Can you deny us this and still keep faith with us? .
We are "sheep in the midst of wolves," and nothing but the military arm of the Government prevents us and all the truly loyal white men from being driven from the land of our birth. Do not then, we beseech you, give to one of these "wayward sisters" the rights they abandoned and forfeited when they rebelled until you have secured our rights by the aforementioned amendment to the Constitution. .
Trusting that you will not be deaf to the appeal herein made, nor unmindful of the warnings which the malignity of the rebels are constantly giving you, and that you will rise to the height of being just for the sake of justice, we remain yours for our flag, our country and humanity.
Address of a convention of Negroes held in Alexandria Virginia August 1865We , the undersigned members of a Convention of colored citizens of the State of Virginia, would respectfully represent that, although we have been held as slaves, and denied all recognition as a constituent of your nationality for almost the entire period of the duration of your Government, and that by your permission we have been denied either home or country, and deprived of the dearest rights of human nature: yet when you and our immediate oppressors met in deadly conflict upon the field of battle -the one to destroy and the other to save your Government and nationality, we, with scarce an exception, in our inmost souls espoused your cause, and watched, and prayed, and waited, and labored for your success.
When the contest waxed long, and the result hung doubtfully, you appealed to us for help, and how well we answered is written in the rosters of the two hundred thousand colored troops now enrolled in your service; and as to our undying devotion to your cause, let the uniform acclamation of escaped prisoners, "whenever we saw a black face we felt sure of a friend," answer.
Well, the war is over, the rebellion is "put down," and we are declared free! Four fifths of our enemies are paroled or amnestied, and the other fifth are being pardoned, and the President has, in his efforts at the reconstruction of the civil government of the States, late in rebellion, left us entirely at the mercy of these subjugated but unconverted rebels, in everything save the privilege of bringing us, our wives and little ones, to the auction block. . . . We know these men-know them well-and we assure you that, with the majority of them, loyalty is only "lip deep," and that their professions of loyalty are used as a cover to the cherished design of getting restored to their former relations with the Federal Government, and then, by all sorts of "unfriendly legislation," to render the freedom you have given us more intolerable than the slavery they intended for us.
We warn you in time that our only safety is in keep ing them under Governors of the military persuasion until you have so amended the Federal Constitution that it will prohibit the States from making any distinction between citizens on account of race or color. In one word, the only salvation for us besides the power of the Government, is in the possession of the ballot. Give us this, and we will protect ourselves. . . . But, is said we are ignorant. Admit it. Yet who denies we know a traitor from a loyal man, a gentleman from a rowdy, a friend from an enemy? The twelve thousand colored votes of the State of New York sent Governor Seymour home and Reuben E. Fenton to Albany. Did not they know who to vote for? . . . All we ask is an equal chance with the white traitors varnished and japanned with the oath of amnesty. Can you deny us this and still keep faith with us? .
We are "sheep in the midst of wolves," and nothing but the military arm of the Government prevents us and all the truly loyal white men from being driven from the land of our birth. Do not then, we beseech you, give to one of these "wayward sisters" the rights they abandoned and forfeited when they rebelled until you have secured our rights by the aforementioned amendment to the Constitution. .
Trusting that you will not be deaf to the appeal herein made, nor unmindful of the warnings which the malignity of the rebels are constantly giving you, and that you will rise to the height of being just for the sake of justice, we remain yours for our flag, our country and humanity.
