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Oklahoma Slave Narrative
Kiziah Love
Land help us, I sho' remembers all about slavery times for I was a grown woman, married and had one baby when de war done broke out. That was a sorry time for some poor black folks but I guess Master Frank Colbert's
niggers was about as well off as the best of 'em. I can recollect things that happened way back better than I can things that happen now. Funny ain't it? Frank Colbert, a full blood Choctaw Indian, was my owner. He owned my mother but I don't remember such about my father. He died when I was a little youngun. My Mistress' name was Julie Colbert. She and Master Frank
was de best folks that ever lived. All the niggers loved Master Frank and knowed jest what he wanted done and they tried their best to do it, too. I married Isom Love, a slave of Sam Love, another full-blood Indian that lived on jining farm. We lived on Master Frank's
farm and Isom went back and forth to work fer his master and I worked ever day fer mine. I don't 'spect we could of done that way iffen we hadn't of had Indian masters. They let us do a lot like we pleased jest so we got our work done and didn't run off. Old Master Frank never worked us hard and we had plenty of good food to eat. He never did like to put us under white overseers and never tried it but once. A white man come through here and stopped overnight. He looked 'round the farm and told Master
Frank that he wasn't gitting half what he ought to out of his rich land. He said he could take his bunch of hands and double his amount of corn and cotton. Master Frank told him that he never used white overseers, that he had one nigger that bossed around some when he didn't do it himself. He also out and all the scent would be on them sticks and the cat wouldn't small at all. They'd cook it like they did possum, bake it with taters or make dumplings. We had
plenty of salt. We got that from Grand Saline. Our coffee was made from parched seal or wheat bran. We made it from dried sweet potatoes that had been parched, too. One of our choicest dishes was "Tom Pashofa", an Indian dish. We'd take corn and beat it in a mortar with a pestle. They took out the husks with a riddle and a farmer. The riddle was a kind of a sifter. Then it was beat fine
enough to go through the riddle we'd put it in a pot and cook it with fresh pork or beef. We cooked our bread in a Dutch oven or in the ashes. When we got sick we would take butterfly root and life-everlasting and boil it and made a syrup and take it for colds. Balcony and queen's delight boiled and mired would make good blood medicine.
The slaves lived in log cabins scattered back of the house. He wasn't afraid they'd run off. They didn't know as much as the slaves in the states. I reckon. But Master Frank had a half brother that was as mean as he was
good. I believe he was the meanest man the sun ever shined on. His name was Buck Colbert and he claimed he was a patroller. He was sho' bad to whup niggers. He'd stop a nigger and ask him if he had a pass and even if they did he'd read it and tell them they had stayed
over time and he'd beat 'em most to death. He'd say they didn't have any business off the farm and to git back there and stay there. One time he got mad at his baby's nurse because she because she couldn't git the baby to stop crying and he hit her on the head with some fire-tongs and she died. His wife got sick and she sent for me to come and take care of her baby. I sho' didn't want to go and I begged so hard for
them not to make me that they sent an older woman who had a baby of her own so she could nurse the baby if necessary. In the night the baby woke up and got to crying and Master Buck called the woman and told her to git him quiet. She was sleepy and was sort of slow and this made Buck
mad and he made her strip her clothes off to her waist and he began to whip her. His wife tried to git him to quit and he told her he'd beat her iffen she didn't shut up. Sick as as she was she slipped off and went to Master Frank's and woke him up and got him to go and
make Buck quit whipping her. He had beat her so that she was cut up so bad she couldn't nurse her own baby any more. Master Buck kept on being bad till one day he got mad at one of his own brothers and killed him. This made another one of his brothers mad and he went to his house and killed him. Everybody was glad that Buck was dead. We had lots of visitors. They'd stop at the stage inn that we kept. One morning I was cleaning the rooms and I found a piece of money in the bed where two men had slept. I thought it was a dime and I showed it to my mammy and she told me it was a five dollar piece. I sho' was happy fer I
had been wanting some hoops fer my skirts like Misstress had so Mammy said she would keep my money 'til I could send fer the hoops. My brother got my money from my mammy and I didn't git my hoops fer a long time. Miss Julie give me some later. When me and my husband got married we built us a log cabin about half-way from Master Frank's house and Master Sam Love's house. I would go to work at Master Frank's and Isom
would go to work at Mister Sam's. One day I was at home with jest my baby and a runner come by and said the Yankee soldiers was coming. I looked 'round and I knowed they would git my chickens. I had 'em in a pen right close to the house to keep the varmints from gitting
'em so I decided to take up the boards in the floor and put 'em in there as the wall logs come to the ground and they couldn't git out. By the time I got my chickens under the floor and the house locked tight the soldiers had got so close I could hear their bugles blowing so I at fairly flew over to old
Master's house. Them Yankees clump down the chimbley and got every one of my chickens and they killed about fifteen of Master Frank's hogs. He went down to their camp and told the captain about it and he paid his for his hogs and sent me some money for my chickens.
We went to church all the time. We had both white and colored preachers. Master Frank wasn't a Christian but he would help build brush arbors for us to have church under and we sho' would have
big meetings I'll tell you. One day Master Frank was going through the woods close to where niggers was having church. All on a sudden he started running and beating hisself and hollering and the niggers all went to shouting and saying "Thank the Land, Master
Frank has done come through!" Master Frank after a minute say, "Yes, through the worst of 'em." He had run into a yellow jacket's nest. One night my old man's master sent him to Sherman, Texas. He aimed to come back that night so I stayed at home with jest my baby. It went to sleep so I set down on the steps to wait and over minute I thought I could hear Isom coming
through the woods. All a sudden I heard a scream that fairly made my hair stand up. My dog that was laying out in the yard give a low growl and come and set down right by me. He kept growling real low. Directly, right close to the house I heard that scream again. It sounded like a woman in mortal misery. I run into the house and made the dog stay outside. I locked the door and then thought what must I do. Supposing Isom did
come home now and should meet that awful thing! I heard it again. It wasn't more's a hundred yards from the house. The dog scratched on the door but I dassent open it to let him in. I knowed by this time that it was a panther screaming. I turned my table over and put it against the opening of the fireplace. I
didn't aim fer that thing to come down the chimbley and git us. Purty soon I heard it again a little mite further away - it was going on by. I heard a gun fire. Thank God, I said, somebody else heard it and was shooting at it. I set there on the side of my bed fer the rest of the night with my baby in my arms and praying that Isom
wouldn't come home. He didn't come till about nine o'clock the next morning and I was that glad to see him that I jest cried and cried. I ain't never seen many sperits but I've seen a few. One day I was laying on my bed here by myself. My son Ed was cutting wood. I'd been awful sick and I was powerful weak. I heard somebody
walking real light like they was barefooted. I said, 'Who's dat? He catch hold of my hard and he has the littlest hard I ever seen, and he say, "You been mighty sick and I want you to come and go with me to Sharman to see a doctor."
I say, "I ain't got nobody at Sherman what knows me."
He say, "You'd better come and go with me anyway."
I jest lay there fer a minute and didn't say nothing and purty soon he say, "Eave you got any water!"
I told him the water was on the porch and he got up and went outside and I set in to calling Ed. He come hurrying and I asked him why he didn't lock the door when he went out and I told him to go see if he could see the little man and find out what
he wanted. He went out and looked everywhere but he couldn't find him nor he couldn't even find his tracks. I always keep a butcher-knife near me but it was between the mattress and the feather bed and I couldn't get to it. I don't guess it would have done any good though for I guess it was jest a sperit. The funniest thing that ever happened to me was when I was a real young gal. Master and Miss Julie was going to see one of his sisters that was sick. I went along to take care of the baby fer Miss Julie. The
baby was about a year old. I had a bag of clothes and the baby to carry. I was riding a pacing mule and it was plumb gentle. I was riding along behind Master Frank and Miss Julie and I went to sleep. I lost the bag of clothes and
never missed it. Purty soon I let the baby slip out of my lap and I don't know how far I went before I nearly fell off myself and jest think how I felt when I missed that baby! I turned around and went back and found the baby setting in the trail sort of crying. He wasn't hurt a mite as he fell in the grass.
I got off the mile and picked him up and had to lock fer a log so I could get back on agai Jest as I got back on Master Frank rode up. He had missed me and come back to see what was wrong. I told him that I had lost the bag of clothes but I didn't say anything about
losing the baby. We never did find the clothes and I sho' kept awake the rest of the way. I wasn't going to risk losing that precious baby again! I guess the reason he didn't cry much was because he was a Indian baby. He was sho' a sweet baby though. Jest before the war people would come through the Territory steeling niggers and selling 'em in the states. Us women dassent git fur from the house. We wouldn't even go to the spring if we happened to see a strange wagon or horsebacker. One of Master Sam Love's
women was stole and sold down in Texas. After freedom she made her way back to her fambly. Master Frank sent one of my brothers to Sherman on an errand. After several days the mule come back but we never did see my brother again. We didn't know whether he run off or was
stole and sold. I was glad to be free. That did I do and say! Well, I jest clapped my hands together and said, "Thank God Almighty, I'se free at last!" I live on the forty acres that the government give me. I have been blind for nine years and don't git off my bed much. I live here with my son, Ed. Isom has been dead for over forty years.
I had fifteen children, but only ten of them are living.
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