Her older brothers and sisters were treated very rough, whipped often and hard. She said she hated to think, much less talk about their awful treatment.
When she was old enough, she would have to spin the wool for her mistress, who wove the cloth to make the family clothes.
She also learned to knit, and after supper would knit until bedtime.
She remembers once an old woman slave had displeased her master about something. He had a pit dug, and boards placed over the hole. The woman was made to lie on the boards, face down, and she was beaten until the blood gushed from her body; she was left there and bled to death.
She also remembers how the slaves would go to some cabin at night for their dances; if one went without a pass, which often they did, they would be beaten severely.
The slaves could hear the overseers, riding toward the cabin. Those, who had come without a pass, would take the boards up from the floor, get under the cabin floor, and stay there until the overseers had gone.
Interviewer's Comment
Mrs. Blakeley is very serious and said she felt so sorry for those, who were treated so such worse than any human would treat a beast.
She lives in a very comfortable clean house, and said she was doing "very well."
Submitted January 24, 1938