Star of the Republic Museum Notes, Volume 14, Number 1, Fall 1989 Page: ATTACHMENT
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"My knee-bones am aching
My body's racking with pa in
I really believe
I'se a chile of God
This ain't my home
This belief in salvation from slavery
in the next life was an important aspect to
the religious beliefs of slaves. Religion
provided a solace from the hardships of
their day-to-day lives. Slaves usually
belonged to the same church as the mas-
ter. Anderson Edwards was born in the
1830's on aplantation in Rusk County. As
a slave preacher he was expected by his
owner to "tell them niggers iffen they
obeys the master they goes to Heaven." In
the woods during secret late night ser-
vices he recalled preaching a different
message: "I tells 'em iffen they keeps
praying, the Lord will set 'em free."
Slaves were kept illiterate by law in
many Southern states, and by conscious
policy in Texas. One Texas slave recalled
that if a slave was caught with a book, "he
got whipped like he was a thief."
Slaves lived to work for someone
else, and this fact represented the focal
point of their existence. Jared Groce came
to Texas in 1821 as one of Austin's colo-
nists, and by the 1830's was probably the
richest planter in Texas. The following
passage describes a typical workday on
his plantation - from a white perspective:
"When the gong sounded at day-
break, all hands came to the 'hall' which
joined the kitchen, and each was served a
large cup of coffee. It was the duty of
some to feed the mules, which are at-
tended to before coffee was served, then
all hands went to the field, the men to the
plows and the women to the hoes. At 7
o'clock the breakfast was done, consist-
ing of ham, or bacon, hot biscuits, fresh
steak, etc. This was packed in buckets,
and sent to the field in carts and distrib-
uted among the negroes. At 12 o'clock
dinner was cooked and served in the same
manner. At 6 p.m. all work was finished
and all gathered together at the 'hall' for a
hot supper.
The little people were fed and the
mothers took them to their own homes;
the older ones sat in front of their doors, oraround their fireplaces, and talked about
old days; the younger element gathered in
the 'hall,' pushed the long dining tables
back, and then the fun began. There were
always good musicians among the ne-
groes, and how they danced and sang!"
The slaves themselves recall a rather
different experience. Willis Winn was
born in 1822 and described his work day
on "Massa Bob's" plantation. "I still got
the bugle he woke us with at four in the
mornin'. When the bugle blowed you'd
better go to hollerin', so the overseer
could hear you. If he had to call you, it was
too bad. The first thing in the mornin'
we'd go to the lot and feed, then to the
woodpile till breakfast. They put out grub
in the trough and give us so long to eat.
Massa hollered if we was slow eating,
'Swallow that grub now and chaw it to-
night. Better be in that field by daybreak.'
We worked from see to can't."
A former slave, Sarah Ashley, was
brought to Texas in the 1830's as a child.
She remembered, "I used to have to pick
cotton, and sometimes Ipicked 300 pounds
and toted it a mile to the cotton house. If
they didn't get the work done, they got
whipped till they had blisters on them. I
never got whipped, because I always got
my 300 pounds."
.w/ fField Hand
Often slaves were"hired-out"to work
for someone else, especially during slack
periods. Some scholars have suggested
that this practice extended the benefits of
slavery to non-slave owners and broad-
ened the support forthe institution among
Southern whites. In 1838, Dr. Ashbel
Smith spent twenty-two hundred dollars
to purchase three slaves and hired them
out for ninety dollars a month.
Slaves were always vulnerable to
violence, and knew that they were never
more than a white man's or woman's
whim away from a beating. According to
Sarah Ashley, "the way they whipped
niggers was to strip them off naked and
"The way they whipped nig-
gers was to strip them off
naked and whip them till
they made blisters and bust
the blisters." Former slave,
Sarah Ashley
whip them till they made blisters and bust
the blisters. Then they took the salt and
red pepper and put them in the wounds.
After that they washed and greased them
and put something on them to keep them
from bleeding to death." Lulu Wilson
was born in Texas during the 1830's on
"Wash Hodges Place" and remembered
being abused at the hands of her mistress.
"She beat me and used to tie my hands and
make me lay flat on the floor and she put
snuff in my eyes. I ain't lying before God
when I say I knows that's why I went
blind."
In addition to the day-to-day vio-
lence, there was always the potential for
one of the most tragic aspects to the
"peculiar institution" - the selling of
humanbeings.Many slavesspokeofbeing
treated literally like animals. In 1839, one
Houston auction yard advertised that it
handled "Negroes, horses, mules, and
carriages."
According to Lewis Winn, "They
was sellin' slaves all the time, puttin' 'em
on the block and sellin' 'em, accordin' to
how much work they could do in a day
and how strong they was. I'se seed lots of
'em in chains like cows and mules. If a
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Star of the Republic Museum (Washington, Tex.). Star of the Republic Museum Notes, Volume 14, Number 1, Fall 1989, periodical, Autumn 1989; Washington, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1623761/m1/3/: accessed July 3, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting UNT Libraries Government Documents Department.