Negro women were taught to sew by the overseers' wives, and most of the slaves' clothes were made from cloth woven on the plantation. The Yankees visited the Lathrop plantation in '65, asked for food, received it, and marched on without molesting anything or any body. Truly, these were well-behaved Yankees!
"Aunt" Martha says that she remembers quite well when the Yankees captured Jefferson Davis. She and other slave children were in the "big house" yard when they heard drums beating, and soon saw the Yankees pass with Mr. Davis.
"Aunt" Martha, now old and decrepit, lives with one of her sons, who takes care of her. This son is a gardener and a carpenter and, being thrifty, fares much better than many Negroes of his generation.
[HW: Dist. 5
Ex-Slave #30]
By E. Driskell
Typed by A.M. Whitley
1-29-37
FIRST COPY OF ARTICLE ENTITLED:
"AN INTERVIEW WITH LEWIS FAVOR," EX-SLAVE
[MAY 8 1937]
[TR: informant also referred to as Favors in this document.]
Among Atlanta's few remaining ex-slaves is one Lewis Favors. When he fully understood this worker's reasons for approaching him he consented to tell what he had seen and experienced as a slave. Chewing slowly on a large wad of tobacco he began his account in the following manner: "I was born in Merriweather County in 1855 near the present location of Greenville, Georgia. Besides my mother there were eight of us children and I was elder than all of them with one exception. Our owner was Mrs. Favors, but she was known to everybody as the "Widow Favors." My father was owned by a Mr. Darden who had a plantation in this same county. When the "Widow's" husband died he left her about one-hundred acres of land and a large sum of money and so she was considered as being rich. She didn't have many slaves of her own and so her son (also a plantation owner) used to send some of his slaves over occasionally to help cultivate her crops, which consisted of cotton, corn, and all kinds of vegetables."
In regard to her treatment of the slaves that she held Mr. Favors says: "She wasn't so tight and then she was pretty tight too."
Those slaves who were field hands were in the field and at work by the time it was light enough to see. They plowed, hoed, and then later in the season gathered the crops. After the harvesting was over the fences were repaired and rails were split. In rainy weather nobody had to work out of doors, instead they shelled the peas and corn and sometimes ginned the cotton. At night the women were required to spin and to weave. In the winter season no work was required at night unless they had not spun as much thread as was required. At such times they had to work at night until the amount set had been reached.