Texas Slave Narratives

Texas Slave Narrative

  Charlie Webb

His broad countenance shows few characteristics of the negro, yet Charlie Webb has that darker coloring and slightly kinky hair which evidence his mulatto heritage. His accounts of slavery days are intensely bitter and he refuses to go into many details although it is evident that he has had a much better education than his contemporaries. He was born in 1853 on a plantation near Uniontown, Alabama; came to Houston, Texas, in 1875, and later to Liberty and Jefferson counties. His feelings on the racial subject are best demonstrated by his attempts to use pure English in the greater part of his account, but under the stress of his story he lapses occasionally into broad negro dialect. The transcription is in his exact words.

I was born on a plantation near Uniontown, Alabama. There was about 150 slaves on the plantation that I was on, and about 150 on the other plantation that my marster had. They raised cotton, corn, potatoe everything they raised on any plantations. They worked us from sun up to sometimes 9 or 10 o'clock at night. If there was plenty work to do on Sunday we work on Sunday same as other days. I was a water toter but I had to be a shepherd boy and had to mind the cows some too. I didn' have it so hard as some, but I had it hard 'nuff. They tole me I would had it more harder on'y the marster took a right lot of intrus' in me, more'n some of the others, co'se I'se his own son. The slaves lived in box and log houses, sometimes they had one room, sometimes two. Sometimes dey would sell a man and his wife to one man and d' undergrowth (children) to another. If dey had a mean one dey would take him to N'Orleans and sell him away from his family an' dey never hear tell of him again. Sometimes dey would work 'em hard. Sometimes dey fall dead in d' fiel' dey was so hot. I seen 'em fall dead with sunstroke. But dey said it wouldn' spell much if dey did. After freedom come dey tole 'em dey want 'em t' stay in the place at so much a month. One thing the ole slave owners did do for us after the war, they educate us. Dey said if we was ignorant it would make their children ignorant. In slavery if dey ketch a nigger wid a newspaper dey whip him. Dey couldn' read d' Bible. Dey said dey had as much use for d' book as a hog did wid a ginger cake. We had preachin' sometimes but what d' preacher preached was mostly 'you must do as your master says.' I seen this in d' war. A regiment of w'ite women, dere husban's were in d' army, d' women come along callin' on d' people t' open dere storehouses an' give 'em somethin' t' eat. Dey broke open d' storehouses an' take w'at dey want t' feed themselves an' dey children. Dey was southern w'ite women at d' sto'houses of d' rich w'ite people. I see 'em takin' niggers from Virginia to Texas chained to a wagon wheel. Dey give us all niggers biscuit an' butter for a Christmas present. Dey was one w'ite family d' w'ite folks run out d' country 'cause dey was so mean t' dere niggers.

Our marster come out on Sunday mornin' dat freedom come an' a great shoutin' broke out in camp, "Free at las' thank Gawd, I'm free at las'. Dey had what dey call a Progo (Provost) Marshal. W'en d' Yankees come an' d' w'ite people treat d' niggers bad dey hang up d' w'ite people by dere thumbs. D' w'ite folks in Texas dey did help d' niggers buy d' land. I come to Houston in 1875 an' then come to Liberty, an' then on here. I work mostly at sawmill, lumber, brick an' things like dat. I started out wid a wife an' one child an' I still got a wife an' one child, 'cause 14 children done die or marry off. I couldn' stand t' tell some of d' things. I heard my mother on her knees at night prayin' t' be delivered from d' burden. I 'member one time I hear dogs. I stood on a fence post t' see what it was. Dey was chasin' a nigger. One time dey make a nigger stan' up on a post an' holler all day, 'cause he kep' tryin' to go to d' woods. An' dats 'bout de heighth of d' battle.


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