South Carolina

Slave Narrative of Hector Smith

Interviewer: Annie Ruth Davis Person Interviewed: Hector Smith Date of Interview: July 14, 1937 Location: Marion County, South Carolina Age: 79 “I studied en studied what songs would suit, but dem old familiar hymns bout all I know dese days. You see dem old familiar hymns what de spirit sings. It just like I tell you, I put all dem other kind of songs away when I is change to a better way of livin. I does remember first one en den de other of dem frolicksome song dat my grandparents learnt me.” Nobody Business But Mine Rabbit in de … Read more

Slave Narrative of Bill Williams

Interviewer: W. W. Dixon Person Interviewed: Bill Williams Location: Winnsboro, South Carolina Age: 82 Bill Williams lives on the Durham place, nine miles east of Winnsboro, S.C., on the warm charity of Mr. Arthur M. Owens, the present owner. He is decrepit and unable to work. “I was born a slave of old Marster John Durham, on a plantation ’bout five miles east of Blackstock, S.C. My mistress name Margaret. Deir chillun was Miss Cynthia, Marse Johnnie, Marse Willie and Marse Charnel. I forgits de others. Then, when young Marse Johnnie marry Miss Minnie Mobley, my mammy, Kizzie, my daddy, … Read more

Slave Narrative of Tena White

Interviewer: Martha S. Pickney Person Interviewed: Tena White Location: Mt. Pleasant, South Carolina Everybody in the town of Mt. Pleasant, Christ Church Parish (across the Bay from Charleston) knows “Tena White, the washer,” “Tena, the cook,” “Maum Tena” or “Da Tena, the nurse”—the same individual, accomplished in each art, but best as a nurse. The house where Tena lives is the second in a row of Negro houses. The writer, calling from the gate, was answered by Tena, a middle-sized woman of neat figure. As the writer ascended the steps a friendly cur wagged itself forward and was promptly reproved … Read more

Slave Narrative of Uncle Dave White

Interviewer: Laura L. Middleton Person Interviewed: Dave White Location: Charleston, South Carolina An Old Time Negro Uncle Dave White, one of the waning tribe lives in a simple homestead down a dusty and wind-swept curved country lane on the out skirt of McClenville, forty miles North of Charleston rests the simple shanty of David White, aged Negro, affectionally known to the Negro and white population for many miles around as “uncle Dave”. His quiet unadulterated mode of living and his never changing grateful disposition typifies the true Southern Negro of pre-Civil War days; a race that was commonplace and plentiful … Read more

Slave Narrative of Jesse Williams

Interviewer: W. W. Dixon Person Interviewed: Jesse Williams Location: South Carolina Age: 83 At the end of one of the silent streets of west Chester, S.C., that prolongs itself into a road leading to the Potter’s Field and on to the County Poorhouse, sets a whitewashed frame cottage. It has two rooms, the chimney in the center providing each with a fireplace. A porch, supported by red cedar posts, fronts the road side. In this abode lives Jesse Williams with his daughter, Edna, and her six children. Edna pays the rent, and is a grenadier in the warfare of keeping … Read more

Slave Narrative of Daphney Wright

Interviewer: Phoebe Faucette Person Interviewed: Daphney Wright Location: Scotia, South Carolina Age: 106 106 Year Old Ex-Slave Just around the bend from the old mill pond on the way to Davis Swimming Pool lives a very old negro woman. Her name is Daphney Wright, though that name has never been heard by those who affectionately know her as “Aunt Affie”. She says she is 106 years old. She comes to the door without a cane and greets her guests with accustomed curtsey. She is neatly dressed and still wears a fresh white cap as she did when she worked for … Read more

Slave Narrative of Pauline Worth

Interviewer: Annie Ruth Davis Person Interviewed: Pauline Worth Date of Interview: September 1937 Location: Marion, South Carolina Date of Birth: November 1 Age: 79 “Yes’um, I know I been here in slavery time, but wasn’ large enough to do nothin in dat day en time. I reach 79 de first day of November. To be certain dat how old I is, Miss Betty Evans give me my direct age here de other day. She know who I am cause I was raise near bout in de same yard dat she was raise in. Mr. Telathy Henry family was my white … Read more

Slave Narrative of Mary Woodward

Interviewer: W. W. Dixon Person Interviewed: Mary Woodward Location: South Carolina Date of Birth: 1854 Age: 83 “I knows you since you ’bout dis high (indicating). When was it? Where I see you? I see you at your auntie’s house. Dat was your auntie, Miss Roxie Mobley, other side of Blackstock. You was in a little dress dat day, look lak a gal. Oh! Lordy, dat been a long time! What us has come thru since dat day and de days befo’ dat, beyond freedom. “I was born a slave of old Marster Adam Berber, near de Catawba River side … Read more

Slave Narrative of Aleck Woodward

Interviewer: W. W. Dixon Person Interviewed: Aleck Woodward Location: South Carolina Age: 83 “You knows de Simonton place, Mr. Wood? Well, dats just where I was born back yonder befo’ de war, a slave of old Marster Johnnie Simonton. Five miles sorter south sunset side of Woodward Station where you was born, ain’t it so? My pappy was Ike Woodward, but him just call ‘Ike’ time of slavery, and my mammy was name Dinah. My brother Charlie up north, if he ain’t dead, Ike lives in Asheville, North Carolina. Two sisters: Ollie, her marry an Aiken, last counts, and she … Read more

Slave Narrative of George Woods (Wood)

Interviewer: F. S. DuPre Person Interviewed: George Woods Location: Spartanburg, South Carolina Age: 78 While looking for an ex-slave in a certain part of Spartanburg this morning, I was directed across the street to “an old man who lives there”. I knocked at the door but received no answer. Then I noticed an old man walking around by the side of the house. He was tall and straight, standing about 6 feet 2 inches. He said that his name was George Wood and that he was 78 years of age. He stated that he was born during slavery, and lived … Read more

Slave Narrative of Julia Woodberry

Interviewer: Annie Ruth Davis Person Interviewed: Julia Woodberry Date of Interview: October-November, 1937 Location: Marion, South Carolina “Well, I can speak bout what I used to hear my auntie en my mammy en my grandmammy talk bout what happen in dey day, but I never didn’ live in slavery time. My mammy, she been broke her leg long time fore freedom come here en I remember she tell me often times, say, ‘Julia, you didn’ lack much of comin here a slavery child.’ Honey, I mean she been in de family way right sharp fore freedom come here. “My mammy, … Read more

Slave Narrative of Al Rosboro

Interviewer: W. W. Dixon Person Interviewed: Al Rosboro Location: Woodward, South Carolina Age: 90 Ex-Slave 90 Years Old Al Rosboro, with his second wife, Julia, a daughter, and six small grandchildren, lives in a three-room frame house, three hundred yards east of the Southern Railway track and US #21, about two miles south of Woodward, S.C., in Fairfield County. Mr. Brice gives the plot of ground, four acres with the house, to Al, rent free. A white man, Mr. W.L. Harvey does the ploughing of the patches for him. Al has cataracts on his eyes and can do no work. … Read more

Slave Narrative of Charlie Robinson

Interviewer: W. W. Dixon Person Interviewed: Charlie Robinson Location: Winnsboro, South Carolina Age: 87 Ex-Slave 87 Years Old Charlie Robinson lives nine miles northwest of Winnsboro, S.C., on lands of Mr. R.W. Lemmon. There is one other occupant in the four-room house, John Giles, a share cropper. The house has two fireplaces, the brick chimney being constructed in the center of the two main rooms. The other two rooms are shed rooms. Charlie ekes out a living as a day laborer on the farm. “They been tellin’ me to come to de social circle and see ’bout my pension but … Read more

Slave Narrative of Bob Young

Interviewer: Caldwell Sims Person Interviewed: Bob Young Date of Interview: November 10, 1937 Location: Jonesville, South Carolina Date of Birth: March 15, 1862 Age: 75? “March 15, 1862 is de date I allus takes when folks axes how old is you. Dat’s de best, to follow one date, den no argument don’t follow. “Some see’d it powerful hard in slavery, others never see’d it so bad. Dat ‘pends on you a lot, den it ‘pends on dem dat you stays wid. It still like dat everywhar dat I is been, but I ain’t been no further dan Spartanburg gwine north, … Read more

Slave Narrative of Hector Smith

Interviewer: Annie Ruth Davis Person Interviewed: Hector Smith Date of Interview: July 1937 Location: Marion County, South Carolina Age: 79 “I born down here in Wahee Neck. Easter Avant, dat was my mammy en my father name Hector Smith. Coase I ain’ never see him cause he die fore I was born, but dat what dey tell me. Dat was a pretty rough time wid de people den. I don’ recollect so much bout de times back dere cause in dat day en time chillun didn’ have de heap of knowledge dey have dis day en time, but I remembers … Read more

Slave Narrative of “Uncle” Bill Young

Person Interviewed: Bill Young Location: Spartanburg, South Carolina Seated on the front steps of his house, holding a walking cane and talking to another old colored man from Georgia, who was visiting his children living there, the writer found “Uncle” Bill Young. He readily replied that he had lived in slavery days, that he was 83 years old, and he said that he and Sam were talking about old times. He was owned by Dave Jeter at Santuc, S.C.; though he was just a boy at the time his mother was a slave. He used to mind his “Missus” more … Read more

Slave Narrative of Hannah McFarland

Person Interviewed: Hannah McFarland Location: Oklahoma City, Oklahoma Place of Birth: Georgetown, South Carolina Date of Birth: February 29, 1853 Age: 85 I was born in Georgetown, South Carolina, February 29, 1853. My father was name James Gainey and my mother was name Katie Gainey. There was three chillun born to my folks doing slavery. My father was a free man, but my mother was do slave of the Sampsons, some Jews. My father was do richest Negro in South Carolina doing this time. He bought all three of we chillun for $1,000 apiece, but dem Jews jest wouldn’t sell … Read more

Catawba Indian History

A recent publication of the Smithsonian Institution (” Siouan Tribes of the East,” by James Mooney) asserts that the origin and meaning of the word Catawba are unknown. In 1881, the Bureau of Ethnology collected a vocabulary of 10,000 words from the tribe of Indians bearing this name, and, after critical examination by experts, their language was pronounced unmistakably of Siouan stock. The home of the Sioux family is believed to have been at one time in the upper Ohio valley, from whence one branch migrated east and the other west, and Mr. Mooney says that linguistic evidence indicates that … Read more

Catawba Indian Treaty of 1843

“A treaty entered into at the Nation Ford, Catawba, between the Chiefs and Headmen of the Catawba Indians of the one fart and the Commissioners appointed under a resolution of the Legislature, passed December, 1839, an acting under Commissions from his Excellency Patrick Noble, Esq., Governor of the State of South Carolina, of the other part; “ARTICLE FIRST. The Chiefs and Headmen of the Catawba Indians, for themselves and the entire nation, hereby agree to cede, sell, transfer, and convey to the State of South Carolina, all their right, title, and interest to their Boundary of Land lying on both … Read more

Catawba Indian Condition

Scarcely more than one hundred years ago the hoof prints of the buffalo became scarce in South Carolina, and it would, perhaps, have been well for the Catawba Indian had he followed him to the distant West; for the exterminating greed of the white man has almost driven him, too, from the boundless regions in which he used to roam, cruel legislation has allowed his lands to be sold and his money squandered, and, after all, he is in not much better condition morally, socially, or financially than when he was a savage in the woods, with God-given ability to … Read more