Title: Slave Narratives: A Folk History of Slavery in the United States from Interviews with Former Slaves, Arkansas Narratives, Part 4
Author: Work Projects Administration
Release Date: April 24, 2008 [EBook #25154]
Interviewer: Samuel S. Taylor
Person interviewed: Lula Jackson
1808 Valentine Street, Little Rock, Arkansas
Age: 79?
"My mama's first husband was killed in a rasslin' (wrestling) match.
It used to be that one man would walk up to another and say, 'You ain't no
good.' And the other one would say, 'All right, le's see.' And they would
rassle.
"My mother's first husband was pretty old. His name was Myers. A
young man come up to him one Sunday morning when they were gettin' commodities.
They got sorghum, meat, meal, and flour; if what they got wasn't
enough, then they would go out and steal a hog. Sometime they'd steal it
anyhow; they got tired of eatin' the same thing all the time. Hurt would
whip them for it. Wouldn't let the overseer whip them. Whip them hisself.
'Fraid the overseer wouldn't give them enough. They never could find my
grandfather's meat. That was Grandfather William Down. They couldn't find
his meat because he kept it hidden in a hole in the ground. It was under
the floor of the cabin.
"Old Myers made this young man rassle with him. The young fellow
didn't want to rassle with him; he said Myers was too old. Myers wasn't my
father; he was my mother's first husband. The young man threw him. Myers
wasn't satisfied with that. He wanted to rassle again. The young man didn't
want to rassle again. But Myers made him. And the second time, the young
man threw him so hard that he broke his collar-bone. My mother was in a
family way at the time. He lived about a week after that, and died before
the baby was born.
http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25154/25154-h/25154-h.htm
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