SLAVE NARRATIVES _A Folk History of Slavery in the United States From Interviews with Former Slaves_ TYPEWRITTEN RECORDS PREPARED BY THE FEDERAL WRITERS' PROJECT 1936-1938 ASSEMBLED BY THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS PROJECT WORK PROJECTS ADMINISTRATION FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA SPONSORED BY THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS WASHINGTON 1941 VOLUME XVII VIRGINIA NARRATIVES Prepared by the Federal Writers' Project of the Works Progress Administration for the State of Virginia ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Transcriber's Note: To reflect the individual character of this document, most inconsistencies in spelling, punctuation, and formatting have been retained. Obvious typos and some punctuation (mostly quotation marks) have been fixed. Spelling changes are noted within the text. [HW: text] denotes hand-written addition unless otherwise noted. [TR: text] denotes transcriber's note. [SP: text] denotes misspelled word that was corrected. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ INFORMANTS Berry, Fannie 1 Crawley, Charles 7 Fulkes, Minnie 11 Giwbs (Gibbs?), Georgina 15 Goodwin, Candis 17 Grandy, Charles 21 Harris, Della 24 Hines, Marriah 27 Hopson, Moble 31 Jones, Albert 42 Kelly, Susan, and Stokes, Simon 44 Slaughter, Richard 46 Sparks, Elizabeth 50 Wilson, Mary Jane 55 450009 Interview of Mrs. Fannie Berry, Ex-slave 861 E. Bank Street--Petersburg, Virginia By Susie Byrd, Petersburg, Virginia Date--February 26, 1937 NAT TURNER Back 'fore the sixties, I can 'member my Mistress, Miss Sara Ann, comin' to de window an' hollerin', "De niggers is arisin'! De niggers is arisin'! De niggers is killin' all de white folks, killin' all de babies in de cradle!" It must have been Nat Turner's Insurrection; which wuz sometime 'fo de breakin' of de Civil War. I wuz waitin' on table in dinin' room an' dis day dey had finished eatin' early an' I wuz cleanin' off table. Don't you know I must have been a good size gal. JOHN BROWN Yes, I 'member something 'bout him too. I know my Master came home an' said, dat on his way to de gallows ole John stopped an' kissed a little nigger child. "How com' I don't 'member? Don't tell me I don't 'cause I do. I don't care if its done bin a thousand years." I know what Master said an' it is as fresh in my mind as it wuz dat day. Dis is de song I herd my Master sing: Old John Brown came to Harpers Ferry Town, Purpose to raise an insurrection; Old Governor Wise put the specks upon his eyes An' showed him the happy land of Canaan. INVENTION