Excerpt from Manuscript of The Florida Negro (pp. 27-29) Federal Writers' Project of the Work Projects Administration for the State of Florida Transcription Zariah Grant Transcription, Encoding and Edition Sanam Patel

This document was produced as part of the Viola Muse Digital Edition (violamuse.unfdhi.org), based at the University of North Florida.

 USA Florida Jacksonville fn-27-29 The section "Git It 'n Run!" found on p. 27-29 of the manuscript copy of The Florida Negro housed in the State Archives of Florida (S1585) and available through the Florida Memory website of the State Library and Archives of Florida. This section consist of interveiw about the dietof form slaves during their slavery.

Typed words on yellow paper manuscripts, 3 pages, with no form of damage towards the pages.

Document transcribed and encoded following the criteria of the Viola Muse Digital Edition (violamuse.unfdhi.org), based at the University of North Florida.

Page. 27

"Git it an' Run!"

While the food that the slaves ate seens to have been about the same on most plantation, the conditions under which it was eaten differed greatly. Some former slaves state that when the work single sounded they had to "Git it an' run," that is, snatch up a sandwich or ohunka hunk of bread they had pre- pared the night before and eat it on the way to the field or after arriving there.

Others were given adequate time for breakfast. Lunch on some plantations was eaten in the field, too, and in the greatest possible haste; on others, lunchtime meant aresta rest period of varying length in which the slave who could

Page. 28

eat quickly could also rest for some little time before returning to his labors.

Supper, on most plantations, was the slave's only important meanl. This was always eaten in his cabin, with whatever family he night be fortunets enough to have. It was cooked by his wife or nother, after her own duties were finish- ed in the field or at the Misses' house; the children, tended during the day by a Negro woman, shared supper with their parents. Supper usually consisted of corn mealcornmeal in some form, meat--white salt pork--on some occasions, coffee of parched corn, and sometimes potatoes or some green vegetable.

The corn mealcornmeal might be mush or bread. In the former case it would be boiled, with whatever scraps of meat or vegetable might be available, in a large iron pot out of which the whole family was served. If corn breadcornbread, it would have been baked in the top of an iron spider, a large pan with a compartment over it in which coal could be heaped.

Potatoes, when available, were wrapped in the large leaves of the tennion plant, or sometimes in green corn shucks, and roasted in live coals. Corn in season, was sometimes given to the slaves in its green form;, they used it for both vegetable and beverage.

While these were the rations that the master saw and knew about, there were others that did not so readlly cosecase to his attention. Among these was the wild squash once found growing in the woods of west Florida. Since it was a prolifioprolific growth, slave owners might have had little objection to its use by slaves, except that it requied a trip to the woods to procure it, and this was often a risky matter.

Pilfered eggs were another common dish. Where stumps and underbrush were

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burned to clear or fertilize the land, the ground beneath the fire would turn a clear, clean white, holding an intense heat. When this point was reached, eggs from stolen nests would be surreptitiously buried near the fire;, a few minutes later a loud crack would inform the slave that his bakedegg was ready to eat. Potatoes, also, when not included in the regular fare, would be stolen and cooked in this manner.

There were several substitutes for coffee. Most common was corn or corn meal, parohedparched until dark brown, then boiled. When this was not avilable, okra seeds and even parohedparched potatoes were used.

Sunday and special occasions would bring dessert as an addition to the slaves's meal. This would sometimes be potato bread, made of sweet potatoes, boiled till sodtsoft, then mashed and combined with grease and corn mealcornmeal, and baked till brown.

None of the Florida ex-slaves report the use of sugar in their cabins;, when sweetening of any kind was afforded, it was sugar-cane molasses.

The amount of meat eaten depended entirely upon the master;, it was not an accepted necessity in the slave diet. Some plantations provided it at least once a day, and kept well-filled storehouses. Others parceled it out very sel- dom, and then only the unused parts of the hogs or cows killed for the master's use. Frequent disappearance of hogs was a consequence in the latter case.