Calvin Kennard

Before an' up to de emancipation year, 1865, many slaves was mistreated an many was under good kind, white owners. I was borned in de state of Louisiana accordin' to de record my white folks had, in de year 1857. My mother's name was Mahalia Williams . I was given away by my mother's marster to some of his relatives by de name of Kennard w'en I was about six or seven years old. He brought me to Texas. My job was attendin' to de cows an' odder light jobs 'roun' de house 'cause I wasn't old enough to make a real hand in de field. I can remember well when our marster would take some of de men, buck an' gag dem or tie dem to a tree an' whip 'em till de blood would run down dere backs an' deir close would be cut in little pieces an' into de hide. "Buck an' gag" means when de oberseer would hab a buck nigger or two to hold de one dat was to be whupped over a barrel or somet'in while he was bein' whupped. Dey would hab a white man preach to us. He would tell us dat we would shore burn in hell ef we didn't mind our marster an' missis; don't steal deir eggs an' chickens; don't steal yore marsters' hogs nor anyting dat belong to yore marster. Yes, I 'member dat de ole niggers would go out to work in de fields an' hab to wait 'til it got light enough to see how to chop cotton or corn or to plow. Dey would work 'til twelve A. M. den go back to work soon as dey et deir slop or dinner as it was called. We negro, kids which dey call us, dey would have the negro wench, as dey called deir cook, to put us chillun's food in a large pan, gib us all a spoon to eat wid an' all us negro kids would git 'round dat pan like a lot of pigs an' dat slop it good to me. Sometimes it was made of meal an' hog-head. Sometimes de cook put cabbage, peas an' meat skins in de pot, all cooked up togedder, in a slop. De ole negroes got biscuit an' dey was made outter shorts once a week dat was on a Sunday mornin'. Our bread was mos'ly cooked in ashes. It was called ashcake an' it shore did eat good. We used an' old time gin wid a wooden press. W'en us gin four bales a day, ole marster would say dat was a good day's work; an' w'en we would gin five bales dat was extra good. Some of de negroes would run off an' stay in de woods for weeks at a time.