| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| CabinCreek-Kentucky |
Posted - May 19 2007 : 8:58:09 PM
oh my gosh .. i got so many great books on 'slavery' while visiting tennessee, mississippi, arkansas and new orleans on our 'boat float' .. i think my favorite is actual interviews with former slaves in their olde age (interviewed in the 1930's as part of a WPA program.
i do so love to read!
True Friends, Frannie
CABIN CREEK FARM
KENTUCKY
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| 25 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| CabinCreek-Kentucky |
Posted - Jun 20 2007 : 5:49:19 PM
kate . .who is the author .. sounds like my kinda' book!! xo
True Friends, Frannie
CABIN CREEK FARM
KENTUCKY
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| Justimagine |
Posted - Jun 19 2007 : 3:00:19 PM
Frannie,
Sounds like you found a gold mine! I'd love to read some of those books.
I've just finished reading "Sojourner Truth"... oh my... it was amazing. I would highly recommend it to anyone who wants to understand more about slavery. I couldn't put it down. Kate~
"...out of the heart flow the wellsprings of life"
Proverbs 4:23
See what's springing up from Kate's heart today at www.Kate-Wells.com |
| CabinCreek-Kentucky |
Posted - Jun 03 2007 : 06:08:48 AM
i am so enjoying this book .. and hank and i are reading it together to each other. Makes those bible stories even truer to me told this way!
True Friends, Frannie
CABIN CREEK FARM
KENTUCKY
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| CabinCreek-Kentucky |
Posted - Jun 03 2007 : 06:07:38 AM
the story of NOAH is entiteld STEAMBOAT DAYS
"Well, when de people got so low down to de Lawd couldn't stand 'em, he decided to flood de yearth and drwon ev'ybody 'ceptin' old man Noah. So he told Noah to build a ark and ride de flood down.
"'Cause from what I got in my mind," say de Lawd, "hit look like she's gonter be a mighty wet spring, Noah."
"Gonter bust de levees is you, Lawd?" say Noah.
"When de levees bustes," say de Lawd, "dat's jest goner be de startin' of de wet weather. I got my mind set on rain, Noah, and when I gits my mind set, I mean to tell you I makes hit rain."
True Friends, Frannie
CABIN CREEK FARM
KENTUCKY
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| CabinCreek-Kentucky |
Posted - Jun 03 2007 : 06:05:26 AM
SIN
"Well, hit wa'nt' long after de yearth got peopled to do people got to gittin' in devilment. And de more people hit got to be de more devilment they got in. And de more devilment they got in, do more chilluns dey'd have. To finally hit was so many people scattered round de place to you couldn't hardly wawk.
And mean? Mankind! They was about the triflin'est bunch of trash you ever run up against.
Fust off, de menfolks quite workin' and went to shootin' craps for a livion'. Den de womenfolkls quit takin' in washin' and used they kettles to make hard-drinkin' licker in. And de chilluns wouldn't mind they maws 'cause they maws was drunk, and hit wa'n't nothin, to see a boy in knee britches wawkin' round, chewin' tobacco and cussin' jest as mannish as his dayddy!"
True Friends, Frannie
CABIN CREEK FARM
KENTUCKY
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| CabinCreek-Kentucky |
Posted - Jun 03 2007 : 06:02:37 AM
POPULATING THE EARTH
"Well, Adm and Eve had two chilluns name Cain and Abel. So when Adam got to gittin' along in de years so's he couldn't do no heavy work, he called his boys and say: "Well, you boys better settle down and git to work. Me and de old lady been s'portin' ya'll up to now and hit's about time ya'll was s;portin' me and you' maw."
True Friends, Frannie
CABIN CREEK FARM
KENTUCKY
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| CabinCreek-Kentucky |
Posted - Jun 03 2007 : 06:00:47 AM
EVE AND THAT SNAKE
"Well, a long time ago things was diffrunt. Hit wa'n't nothin' on de yearth 'cause hit wa'n't no yearth. And hit wa'n't nothin' nowheres and evy' day was Sunday. Wid de Lawd r'ared back preachin' all day long ev'y day. 'Ceptin' on Sadday, and den ev'ybody went to de fish fry."
I love how the stories go back and forth in time .. incorporating 'the events and beliefs of the day' in these stories.
True Friends, Frannie
CABIN CREEK FARM
KENTUCKY
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| CabinCreek-Kentucky |
Posted - Jun 03 2007 : 05:58:32 AM
my favorite by far is: Ol' Man Adam an' His Chillun by Roark Bradford ... Harper & Brothers PUblishers 1928.
I love the lyrical telling of the bible stories with the dialect, wisdom, humor and gentleness of early-america slaves.
"Well, they was some mighty men in them days and times. And the Lord was beyond them all."
True Friends, Frannie
CABIN CREEK FARM
KENTUCKY
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| CabinCreek-Kentucky |
Posted - Jun 03 2007 : 05:56:27 AM
Another booklet by Patriciat B. Mitchell ---- MAMMY .. The Hand that Rocked the South
an interesteing little booklet .. and includes more southern recipes too.
True Friends, Frannie
CABIN CREEK FARM
KENTUCKY
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| CabinCreek-Kentucky |
Posted - Jun 03 2007 : 05:55:03 AM
BRAINS AND EGGS and HOG MAW (STOMACH) SALAD
yowzer .. these are two recipes .. i don't think i'll be cookin' up any time soon!
BRAINS AND EGGS. Scientists now caution against eating brains for fear of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, but in times past, people wer just thankful for foood on the table. Folks of ordinary financial circumstances did not hesitate to consume 'brain food' and other innards.
HOG MAW .. In the British Isles, particulary Scotland, a popular dish called 'haggis' is prepared. It consists of the heart, lungs, and liver of a sheep or calf, mixed with oatmeal and suet, seasoned with salt, pepper and onions, and boiled like a big sausage encased ina "maw" or stomach removed from an animal. The whole dish is eaten, stomach and all!
HA! not unlike our HOT DOGS of today!
True Friends, Frannie
CABIN CREEK FARM
KENTUCKY
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| CabinCreek-Kentucky |
Posted - Jun 03 2007 : 05:51:37 AM
DANDELION GREENS
fREE FOR THE PICKAING, DANDELION GREENS FILLED MANY AN EMPTY STOMACH. gEORGE wASHINGTON cARVER, tUSKEGEE iNSTITUTE SCIENTIST, INTRODUCED DANDELION GREENS, CHICORY, CHICKWEED, PEPPER GRASS AND WATERCRESS TO THE COLLEGE DINING HALL MENU.
1 QUART DANDELION GREENS
HAM SHANK
1 TBSP. BUTTER
SALT AND PEPPER TO TASTE
SLICED HARD-BOILED EGGS
"cUT OFF THE COUARSE ROOTS; WASH THE LEAVES THOROUGHLY; STEEPIN SALT AND WATER FOR FIVE HOURS TO REMOVE THE BITTENESS. bIL A HAM SHANK FOR TWO HOURS, THROW IN THE DANDELIONS AND COOK GENTLY FOR FOURTY-FIVE MINUTES; THEN DRAIN, CHOP FINE; SEASON WITH BUTTER, PEPPER AND SALT. mINCE THE HAM VERY IFNE AND SPRINKLE OVER THE GREENS; SPREAD OVER SLICED HARD-BOILED EGGS AND SERVE HOT.
have any of you farmgirls ever made 'greens' this way?
True Friends, Frannie
CABIN CREEK FARM
KENTUCKY
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| CabinCreek-Kentucky |
Posted - Jun 03 2007 : 05:48:40 AM
from the above book: BREAD PUDDING (one of my favorites!!)
"Scaled 2 cups stale bread crumbs with 1 quart milk. Cool. Add 1/3 cup sugar, 2 slightly beaten eggs, 1/2 teaspoon salt, 1/4 cup melted butter and 1 teaspoon vanilla. Turn into a buttered baking dish and bake in a slow oven until thick and delicately browned."
True Friends, Frannie
CABIN CREEK FARM
KENTUCKY
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| CabinCreek-Kentucky |
Posted - Jun 03 2007 : 05:46:34 AM
Another book i got was: PLANTATION ROW .. SLAVE CABIN COOKING .. THE ROOTS OF SOUL FOOD .. by Patricia B. Mitchell (she wrote several of these small 'pamphlets').
i love the quote on the back page: "The one in chains will soon be set free, and will not die ... nor will his bread be lacking ..." Isaiah 51:14.
True Friends, Frannie
CABIN CREEK FARM
KENTUCKY
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| CabinCreek-Kentucky |
Posted - Jun 03 2007 : 05:44:48 AM
I know that 'horror stories' were written about these times too .. and they are touched upon in this book from time to time .. they weave in and out. It is the 'mindset' that we all have at any given era .. and our prejudices in the times in which we live .. and our own personal beliefs that mold the stories we leave for future generations.
I would love to have the time to visit the Library of Congress and read each and every story told by each and every person.
True Friends, Frannie
CABIN CREEK FARM
KENTUCKY
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| CabinCreek-Kentucky |
Posted - Jun 03 2007 : 05:42:31 AM
Violet Guntharpe . age 82. "Honey, us wasn't ready for the big change that come. Us had no education, no land, no mule, no cow, not a pig, not a chicken, to set up housekeeping. The birds had nests in the air, the foxes had holes in the ground, and the fishes had beds under the great falls, but us colored folks was left without any place to lay our heads.
The Yankees sure throwed us in the briar patch, but us not bred and born there like the rabbit. Us born in a good log house. The cows was down there in the canebreakes to give us milk; the hogs was fattening on hickory nuts, acorns, and shucked corn to give us meat and grease; the sheep with their wool and the cottonin the gin house was there to give us clothes. The horses and mules was there to help that corn and cotton, but when them Yankees come and take all that away, alal us had to thank athem for, was a hungry bell and Freedom. Something us had not more use for then, than I have today for one of them airplanes I hears flying around the sky, right now.
(WOULDN'T IT BE SO AMAZING TO 'TIME TRAVEL' .. BOTH TO THE PAST AND THE FUTURE. I WONDER HOW EACH GENERATION WOULD 'SEE' THE TIMES THEY DID NOT EXPERIENCE LIVING IN).
True Friends, Frannie
CABIN CREEK FARM
KENTUCKY
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| CabinCreek-Kentucky |
Posted - Jun 03 2007 : 05:35:21 AM
"I don't remember Freedom, but I know when we signed the contract, the Yankees give us to understnd that we was free as our marster was. Couldn't write, just had to touch the pen. Ask us what name we wanted to go in."
True Friends, Frannie
CABIN CREEK FARM
KENTUCKY
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| CabinCreek-Kentucky |
Posted - Jun 03 2007 : 05:32:40 AM
"Some people say they can see ghost, but you can't see ghost and live. I don't believe in 'um, no ghost, and no conjure, though my Uncle Cotton Judson and my Aunt Massie both believe in them. Uncle Cotton could do most as much as the devil he-self; he could most fly, but I never believe in 'um, no matter what he can do.
As long as old people live, they going to tell the young ones about ghost and thing. They going to pass it on. And wheey they die, they going to leave that foolishness right here."
(I especially loved this passage.)
True Friends, Frannie
CABIN CREEK FARM
KENTUCKY
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| CabinCreek-Kentucky |
Posted - Jun 03 2007 : 05:30:15 AM
Amy Perry = age 82. "The first year after Freedom, I gone to school on Mr. John Townsend place, down to Rockville. After peace declared, the colored people lived on cornmeal mush and salt water int he week, and mush and vinegar for Sunday. Mind you, that for Sunday! I don't see how we live, yet we is."
True Friends, Frannie
CABIN CREEK FARM
KENTUCKY
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| CabinCreek-Kentucky |
Posted - Jun 03 2007 : 05:27:00 AM
Milton Marshall .. age 82. (Milton also refers to his people with the "N" word .. but i will just change it to 'we').
"(We) didn't have a chuch on the plantation but was made to go to the white folks' church and set in back of the church. They had to get a pass to go to church same as any other place, or the patrollers would catch 'em and beat 'em.
After the war was over, (we) built brush arobr for to hold meetings in. I sure remember the old brush arbor and the glorious times then, and how (we) used to sing and pray and shout. I am a Baptist and we baptized in the creek after we dammed it up to hold water deep enough. I remember one old Baptist song, it went:
Down to the water I be baptized,
for my Svior die;
Down to the water,
the River of Jordan,
Where my Savior baptized.
I never did think slavery was right. I was just a chap then and never thought much about it till long since it was over.
True Friends, Frannie
CABIN CREEK FARM
KENTUCKY
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| CabinCreek-Kentucky |
Posted - Jun 03 2007 : 05:21:54 AM
I was also very surprized to read that almost every former slave, still .. more than 60 years later .. still referred to themselves and their people with the "N" word that is totally unacceptable today.
How many of us who live on farms today must have had their earth tilled by the sweat and blood of these amazing humans!
True Friends, Frannie
CABIN CREEK FARM
KENTUCKY
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| CabinCreek-Kentucky |
Posted - Jun 03 2007 : 05:18:13 AM
Adele Frost .. age 93. "Funersls was at night, and when ready to go to the graveyard, everybody would light a lightwood knot as torch while everybody sing. This is one of the songs we used to sing:
Going to carry this body
To the graveyard,
Graveyard, don't you know me?
To lay this body down.
The Yankees take three nights to march through. I was afraid of them and climbed into a tree. One call me down and say, "I am your firiend." He give me a piece of money and I wasn't afraid no more.
After the way, I still work as a maid for Mr. Mitchell."
True Friends, Frannie
CABIN CREEK FARM
KENTUCKY
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| CabinCreek-Kentucky |
Posted - Jun 03 2007 : 05:15:36 AM
Adeline Jackson .. age 88. "I was much happier them days than now. Maybe it won't be so bad when I gets my old age pension."
GOOD GRIEF .. SHE IS ALREADY 88!!! WHEN was she due her 'old age' pension?
True Friends, Frannie
CABIN CREEK FARM
KENTUCKY
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| CabinCreek-Kentucky |
Posted - Jun 03 2007 : 05:13:28 AM
By the way, it was interesting to me to note that the interviews chosen for this particular book .. )and remember these were elderly people at the time of their interview and the era was the 1930's -- ight after the Big Depression) .. well, i was extremely surprized to read that some of the slaves remembered their years in bondage in a gentle way .. but i realize it was a different and often diffcult time for everyone .. and especially for a lifestyle of new freedom after such a long time in bondage.
BUT MOST CERTAINLY NOT ALL RMEMBERANCES WERE 'GENTLE'!!!!!
a few quotes that show these viewpoints:
Hester Hunter .. 85 years old. "Oh, the people, they is awful worser than what they used to be. I know by my coming on that they awful worser. The little tots about here these days know things the older people used to be the only ones that know about. I does worry about it so much. Sometimes, child, I goes along just a-whistling. "Lord, I wish I had went before I had so much to grieve over."
Jake McLeod - age 83. "The McLeods, they was good people. Believe in plenty work, eat and wear all the time, but work us very reasonable. The overseer, he blow horn for us to go to work at sunrise. Give us task to do, and if you didn't do it, they put the little things to you. That was a leather lash or some kind of a whip. Didn't have no whipping post in our neighborhood.
AMAZING that 'putting a leather lash' can be uttered in the same paragraph as "they was good people". I guess they had seen and heard of horrors greater than this.
A atheme heard over and over is the fear of being caught by the 'patrollers' if they were caught off the plantation without permission.
True Friends, Frannie
CABIN CREEK FARM
KENTUCKY
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| CabinCreek-Kentucky |
Posted - Jun 03 2007 : 05:00:55 AM
Another book from Oak Alley: BEFORE FREEDOM .. WHEN I JUST CAN REMEMBER .. edited by Belinda Hurmence
During the 1930's, the Federal Writers' Project undertook the task of locating former slaves and recording their oral histories. The more than ten thousand pages of interviews with over two thousand former slaves were filed int he Library of Congres, where they were known to scholars and historians but few others.
Twenty-seven narratives of 284 former South Carolina slaves were chosen for this book.
The result is a moving, eloquent, and often surprising firsthand account of the last years of slavery and first years of freedonm. The former slaves describe the clothes they wore, the food they ate, the houses they lived in, the work they did, and the treatment they received. They give their impressions of the Yankee soldiers, the Klan, their masters, and their newfound freedom.
True Friends, Frannie
CABIN CREEK FARM
KENTUCKY
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| CabinCreek-Kentucky |
Posted - Jun 03 2007 : 04:57:49 AM
Some of the wonderful names listed for the Oak Alley Plantation Slaves:
Deterville
Meanna
Fogon
Rosine
Martine
Hyacinthe
Leandre
Avril
Paris
Pret-a-boire (ready-to)drink)
Mandrin
Do
Mohamet
Mercury
Argus
Gognon
Bacchus
Lovelace
Prince
Ellick
Lazarre
Adonis
Codjo
Onufre
Tobi
Adeline
Froisine
Felonise
Thalie
Cesar
Zephyrin
Cybelle
Kitty
Bertheline
Servilie
Augustine
Desire
(of course, being from Louisiana ..many names had a 'french' twist.
Some of the more common names we are more familiar with today are:
Simon
Anna
Rose
Mary
Therese
Jack
Toni
John
Isaac
Cary
William
Madison
Anthony
Daniel
Billy
Joe
Louis
Joseph
Albert
No last names are listed.
True Friends, Frannie
CABIN CREEK FARM
KENTUCKY
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