Excerpts from "Remembering Slavery -- African Americans Talk About Their
Personal Experiences of Slavery and Emancipation", published by The New
Press in conjunction with the Library of Congress, 1998. This is a
compilation of interviews made by the Federal National Writer's Project
(NWP) in the 1930's with several thousand former slaves.
(The slang is as-written in the original interviews, which was attempting to
chronicle the slaves' dialect as well as history).
Former slave Rose Williams recalls playing hard-to-get with the the Buck she
was paired to breed with (pp. 129-130):
"Dere am one thing Massa Hawkins does to me what I can't shunt from my mind.
I knows he don't do it for meanness, but I allus holds it 'gainst him. What
he done am force me to live with dat ******, Rufus, 'gainst my wants.
"After I been at he place 'bout a year, de massa come to me and say, 'You
gwine live with Rufus in dat cabin over yonder. Go fix it for livin.' I's
'bout sixteen year old and has no larnin', and I's jus' igno'mus chile. I's
thought dat him mean for me to tend de cabin for Rufus and some other
******s. Well, dat am start de pestigation for me.
"I's took charge of de cabin after work am done and fixes supper. Naw, I
don't like dat Rufus, 'cause he a bully. He am big and cause he so, he think
everybody do what him say. We'uns has supper, den I goes here and dare
talkin', till I's ready for sleep and den I gits in de bunk. After I's in,
dat ****** come and crawl in de bunk with me 'fore I knows it. I says, 'What
you means, you fool ******?' He say for me to hush de mouth. 'Dis am my
bunk, too,' he say.
"'You's teched in de head. Git out,' I's told him, and I puts de feet
'gainst him and give him a shove and out he go on de floor 'fore he knew
what I's doin'. Dat ****** jump up and he mad. He look like de wild bear. He
starts for de bunk and I jumps quick fer de poker. It am 'bout three feet
long and when he comes at me I lets him have it over de head. Did dat ******
stop in his tracks I's say he did. He looks at me steady for a minute and
you's could tell he thinkin' hard. Den he go and set on de bench and say,
'Jus' wait. You thinks it am smart, but you's am foolish in de head. Dey's
gwine larn you somethin.'
"'Hush yous big mouth and stay 'way from dis ******, dat all I wants,' I
say, and jus' sets and hold dat poker in de hand. He jus' sets, lookin' like
de bull. Dere we'uns sets and sets for 'bout and hour and den he go out and
I bars de door.
"De nex' day I goes to de missy and tells her what Rufus wants and missy say
dat am de massa's wishes. She say, 'Yous am de portly gal and Rufus am de
portly man. De massa wants you-uns for to bring forth portly chillen.'
"I's thinkin' 'bout what de missy say, but say to myself, 'I's not gwine
live with dat Rufus.' Dat night when him come in de cabin, I grabs de poker
and sits on de bench and says, 'Git 'way from me, ******, 'fore I busts yous
brains out and stomp on dem.' He say nothin' and git out.
"De nex' day de massa call me and tell me, 'Woman, I's pay big money for you
and I's done dat for de cause I wants you to raise me chillens. I's put yous
to live with Rufus for dat purpose. Now, if you doesn't want whippin' at de
stake, yous do what I wants.
"I thinks 'bout massa buyin me offen de block and savin' me from bein'
sep'rated from my folks and 'bout bein' whipped at de stake. Dere it am.
What am I's to do? So I'cides to do as de massa wish and so I yields. ..."