PLANTATION LIFE
ANDERSON FURR, Age 87
298 W. Broad Street
Athens, Georgia
Written by:
Sadie B. Hornsby [HW: (white)]
Athens
Edited by:
Sarah H. Hall
Athens
Leila Harris
Augusta
and
John N. Booth
District Supervisor
Federal Writers' Project
Residencies 6 & 7
Anderson Furr's address led the interviewer to a physician's residence on Broad Street, where she was directed to a small frame house on the rear of the lot. The little three-room cottage has a separate entrance from Pulaski Street. Three stone steps lead from the street to the narrow yard which is enclosed by a low rock coping. Anderson rents only one room and the remainder of the house is occupied by Annie Sims and her husband, George, who works at the Holman Hotel.
Reclining comfortably in a cane-backed chair, with his walking stick conveniently placed across his knees, Anderson was enjoying the shade of a wide spread oak tree in the tidy yard. His costume consisted of a battered old black felt hat, a dingy white shirt, dark gray pants, and scuffed black shoes. Asked if he remembered the days when the North was fighting the South for his freedom, Anderson replied: "'Member fightin'! Why, Lady! Dey ain't never stopped fightin' yit. Folks has been a-fightin' ever since I come in dis world, and dey will be fightin' long atter I is gone.
"I dis'members what was de name of de town whar I was borned, but it was in Hall County. Lydia and Earl Strickland was my Ma and Pa. All of deir chillun is daid now 'cept me and Bob. De others was: Abe, Bill, Jim, and Sarah. Dere ain't much to tell 'bout what us done dem days, 'cept play and eat. Dem what was big 'nough had to wuk.
"Lordy, Miss! It's lak dis: I is a old Nigger, and I done been here for many years, but dese last few years I sho' has been a sick man, and now I can't git things straight in my mind lak dey was den. I knows us lived in log houses what had great big chimblies made out of sticks and mud. Why, dem fireplaces was 'bout eight feet wide, and you could put a whole stick of cord wood on de fire. Us slept on high-up old timey beds what had big posties and instead of springs, dey had stout cords wove 'cross to hold de mattress. De last time I slept on one of dem sort of beds was when I was a little boy, sleepin' wid my Ma. Pa and Ma was both field hands. Ma's mammy was de onliest one of my grandmas I ever seed. Her name was Ca'line and she lived wid Grandpa Abe on another plantation. Ma's sister, my aunt Ca'line was cook up at our Old Marster's big house.
"Money? Yessum! Dey gimme a little money now and den for totin' water to de field, sweepin' de yards, and a million other things dey used to make me do. De most dey ever gimme was 50 cents. I never spent none of it, but jus' turned it over to my Ma. Chillun warn't 'lowed to spend money den lak dey does now, 'cause dey had evvything dey needed anyhow. Old Marster, he give us plenty somepin t'eat, such as it was. Dere was lots of cornbread, a little meat now and den, collards, whip-poor-will peas and dem unknown peas what was most big as a dime, and black 'lasses—dat was lallyho.
"Us cotch lots of 'possums, but mighty few of 'em us Niggers ever got a chance to eat, or rabbits neither. Dey made Niggers go out and hunt 'em and de white folks et 'em. Our mouths would water for some of dat 'possum but it warn't often dey let us have none. I don't know nothin' 'bout no fishin' bein' done dem days. Yessum, slaves had deir own gyardens, and dey better wuk 'em good if dey wanted any gyarden sass to eat. Cookin' was done in dem big open fireplaces, mostly in pots and thick iron skillets what had lids on 'em.
"Boys wore long blue striped shirts in summer and nothin' else a t'all. Dem shirts was made jus' lak mother hubbards. Us wore de same thing in winter only dem shirts was made new for winter. By summer dey had done wore thin. When de weather got too cold, Marster give us old coats, what grown folks had done most wore out, and us warn't none too warm den wid de wind a-sailin' under our little old shirt tails. Our shoes was rough old brogans what was hard as rocks, and us had to put rags inside 'em to keep 'em from rubbin' de skin off our foots. Us didn't know what socks and stockin's was dem.
"Marse Earl Strickland owned us. Miss Sarah was his old 'oman and dey was sho' mighty good to deir slaves. White folks was heap better folks den dan dey is now anyhow. Now-a-days dey will knock you up right now, and won't be long 'bout it. I can't git up no ricollections 'bout 'em havin' no chillun a t'all. Seems lak I know for sho' dey didn't have none. Dey never had no fine house neither; jus' a plain common house wid a chimbly at both ends.
"Oh, Lord! Marster never had no overseer; no car'iage driver neither; didn't even have no car'iage yit. He did have a surrey what he hitched mules to and driv for hisself. Warn't no hoss on dat plantation, nothin' 'cept mules.