"'Don't you see them, honey?' he said; but I couldn't see them. And he
said there was going to be a war.
"I went out and told it. The white people said they ought to take him
out and beat him and make him hush his mouth. Because if they got such
talk going 'round among the colored people, they wouldn't be able to do
nothin' with them. Dr. Polk's wife's father, Old Man Woods, used to say
that the niggers weren't goin' to be free. He said that God had showed
that to him.
Mean Masters
"Dr. Polk and his son, the one my mother beat up and left lying on the
ground, were two mean men. When the slaves didn't pick enough cotton for
them, they would take them down the field, and turn up their clothes,
till they was naked, and beat them nearly to death.
"Mother was a breeder. While she did that weaving, she had children
fast. One day, Tom Polk hit my mother. That was before she ran away. He
hit her because she didn't pick the required amount of cotton. When
there was nothin' to do at the loom, mother had to go in the field, you
know. I forget how much cotton they had to pick. I don't know how many
times he hit her. I was small. I heard some one say, 'They got Clarisay
Down, down there!' I went to see.
Pages:
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65