The slave owners thought that slavery was right and nothing was wrong about selling and buying human beings if they were colored, much as a person would purchase a horse or automobile today. The owners who whipped their slaves usually stripped them to the waist and lashed them with a long leather whip, commonly called a blacksnake.
Mrs. Hockaday is a large, pleasant, middle-aged woman and does not like to discuss the cruel side of slavery and only recalls in a general way what she had heard old slaves discuss.
Federal Writers' Project
of the W.P.A.
District #6
Marion County
Anna Pritchett
1200 Kentucky Avenue
FOLKLORE
ROBERT HOWARD—EX-SLAVE
1840 Boulevard Place
Robert Howard, an ex-slave, was born in 1852, in Clara County, Kentucky.
His master, Chelton Howard, was very kind to him.
The mother, with her five children, lived on the Howard farm in peace and harmony.
His father, Beverly Howard, was owned by Bill Anderson, who kept a saloon on the river front.
Beverly was "hired out" in the house of Bill Anderson. He was allowed to go to the Howard farm every Saturday night to visit with his wife and children. This visit was always looked forward to with great joy, as they were devoted to the father.