Anna Scott Narrative (3 of 3) Viola Muse Transcription, encoding and edition Brady Benefiel

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

 USA D.C. Washington Library of Congress Version of the Anna Scott narrative published in Works Progress Administration Federal Writers’ Project, Slave Narratives: A Folk History of Slavery in the United States from Interviews with Former Slaves, vol. 3, Library of Congress, 1941, pp. 279-285

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

FEDERAL WRI:TlliS PB.OJ EeTFederal Writers Project !HE A?ORICAlT GUI:DJThe American Guide (lTegro 'l'ri te:ra Unit Negro Writers Unit J aolt sonvilleJacksonville, .F.l a.Florida Viol Ja :s..Muse[use SLAV'JI I:l.VIn Field Worker January 11, 1·93'1• · January 11, 1913 Complete 1,315 words ,6 Pages

Al JJ,, 1i«4YI go WENT W AFRIcAll SLAVES WHO WENT To Africa[use SLAV'JI I:l.VIn

· ,,4.nna ScottAnna Scott, an ex-slave who now lives il'lin Jacksonville near Jacksonville the intersection of Moncrief and J:dgewoodEdgewood Avenues. •asaslwas a m..bermember efof one of the first colonization groups that went to the West coast of Afri'ca following the emancipation ot the slaves in this coun.Africa try.

The-former slave was born at Jllve CityDave City, .South Carolina, on Jan. 28, 184,,.6, of a hal. f-breed Cherokee-iadCherokee-and• glo-Sajconglo-Saxon father. herHer father owned the plantatien adjoining tha.athat, of her master.Sotuh AfricaJanuary 28, 1988

'When she reached the adol.e'5centAdoloscent age .Anna was placed .derunder the direct care of her mistress, by wj.011:1when she was given .dire.rdirect charge of the dining-room and entrusted with the keys to the p-9Tisionaprovisions and supplies of the hosehol4household.

J..A klidred love grew between the slave girl and her :mi s.resamistress; she recalls that everywhere her mistress went she, was taken al.so.also file was kept iri 'the big house•. sb.eShe was not given any: edu.-oa.tioneducation, though, as some of the slaves on nearby plantatlon were.

Religion was not denied to the .orme?formaer sa.ateslave and her tel.lowsfellows 1:rs Abigail JIITef'Mrs. Abigail Dever her owner, pemitted the slaves wto a'Mncire-vivalattendire-vival lldand other s.Yicesservices. !heThe slaves were allowed to oc.u,7occupy /bethe

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balcony of the church in Dove City, while the whites oceupie'doccupied the main floor. The slaves were forbidden to sing, truktalk, or make any other sound, however, under penalty of severe beatings.

Those of the slaves who 'felt the sperrite1 during a service must keep silence until after the service, when they could 'tell it to the deacon', a colored n,ia.nman who woul.dwould listen to the confessions or professions of religion of the slaves until late into the nifftenightThe Negro deacon would rel qrelay hi ahis conve.rtsconverts to the white minister of the church, who woul. dwould meet them in the vestry room at some specified time.

Some of :the questions that woUL dwould be asked at these .meetings. in the vestry room would be: "What did you come up her.here·for?" Bees.useBecause I got religion. "How do you know you got religion?" enBeoauseBecause I know my sins are forforgive How do you know your sins are forgiven?"e"Because I love Jesus and I lo:velove everybody"•e "Do you want to be baptized?•e/ "Yes sir.•e "Why do you want to be baptized?"e cause it will make me like Jesus wants me to be"•e When several per.sonspersons w9rewere •ready•, there would be a ba;p'timsbaptism.

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in a nearby ere-creekor river. After this, slaves wouJ.dwould be permitted to hold ocassiolla1.ocassional servives of their own in the log house :tnatthat waewas some.imeasometimes used as a school.

Jira ScottMrs. Scott remembers vividly the joy that she felt and other slaves -e:xpressedexpressed when first news of their emancipation wasebrough'ie to them. Both she and her mistress were fearful·, she sa.rssays; her mistress because she did not know what she woul.dwould do without her slaves, and .Anna because she thought the _UnionUnion soldiers woul.ldwould ham Mrs. Dive. When the chief officer o:f'of the soldiers came to the home o:f'of her mistress, she sqesays, he demanded entrance in a g?'UffGruff voice. !henThen he saw a rinaring upon Mrs. DoteMrs. Dove's finger and aa,kedasked: "Where did you get this?• When told that the ring beliongedbelonged to her husband, W'hoWho was dead, the officer turned to his soldiers and told them that they should get back; SheI eshe's alright I

Provisions intended :f'orfor the Confederate armies were broken open by the Union soldiers and their followers, and Aana•a mothe., to protect, her master, organized groups of slaves to •tote the meat from the box care ane hide it in dugouts under the mistress' h.usehouse. This meat was later divided between Negroes and whites.

A Provost Judge followed the advance of the ai,ayarray, and he obtained 11 etlist of all of the sJ. avesSlaves held by each master. lire DoveMrs. Dove gave her list to the official.• who cal.ledcalled each slave by n-..name and asked what that al. ave.slave had done on the plantation. -lieHe asked, al saalso, whether BZ17any p,qmentpaymet had been made to :ththem since the llaanci. pation Proclam.at1onProclamation had been signed, and whea annere4answered in ii.henegotation •••

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ati.,eSlave tel.told cl .that "WL'i •reu are. t»•• aow • _,.4 au.s'i lte .pa14 .fer 1.:,."You are free now and must be paid for all . of the ,ro:rll:Work you have cilenedone .ia,oein the future. "1li. :Pno1aliia'b.o11' was aipe4 aa4Don't you work for anybody without pay".

!heThe Provost 1u.d.gejudge also told the slaTesslaves that they love:, if they likectlicked. and Anna waa am.ongamong those who left. She went to .iaitvisit t..li.ethe husba1l'clhusband of her -.-3rdmother in Cbarlee.Charleston.Charleston ftt.llwith her thermother and .riTefive other children, Ana crossed. riTeretoldrivers •• log rat.rafts dand re4erode enon t:raiaa.train to Charleston. ... .

-.31.iaa umto:rdMiss mumford nswas annaaAnna's step-father in Charleston, and a,ieziafterspending a year tllerethere wi'thwith him the entire taJ.iff.family . e:Lne4.joined a Lta.zing.Colonization .editionexpidition to West Africa. '9arThere were 650 in the •21>ecU.t.;A•••expedition and it 1.ef't.left in 1867. !ransportaio.olltransportional was free.1867Charleston

The trip iook sev.er1several weekaweeks 'bta.tbut tin-1,lyfinally the 8111.1small ship i...dodlanded at -. .. , BassaBrand Bassa. Jl\lllfo:rdMumford did. not like the pl.••place b,OffYe:rOfficer amcland continued on to [onrovia, Literla..Monrovia, Liberia He did not like 11onnTiaMonrovia, either, and tried ••veralseveral other pert•places. •fore.Before being told that J..sev.er1several would hate to get off, anyway •. .1• wae aiThis was at; BlJZPer. CapeHarper Cape. w• .A·l'r:loac..West AfricsLiberia

Here he a11nosalmost, i1111Udiate17immediately began an industry that was to prove luratlYElurative. Oysters were •1arge'large. as eaaoera1saoucers , acoer41D8according to Anna, and whileAnna the .tallil7.tallil7family gatherelgathered "11.eae he wo111..c1 bun "1leathese he would burn them and extraoextract, llllelime trG11from then th•• !alaThis he •lxeclmixed ,ri'UIwith the nati'YeNative olaolday, and • made brick. In ad.41 tionaddiction to his brlct-aatinabrick-making -..rorcl oat trect·out there for lumber, and. with his own brick and l i•N:rlumber wo1114would ooa1'ir-utconstruct alle11••.house ' .. ' and atruolveastructures •••·One nchsuch atnetvestructures 'ltft:v.pt llbl tii•Q••••bought his $1100.00.· . . .

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An:othet'Another manner in which Jl\iaf1or4Mumford. added to his grewlng •.al.ill 'Wweal wa.6was through the cashing of cl:Leckschecks for the Jlissi-on"rie•Missounaries of th·e .•.the United Na- tion. Ordinarily they would hate to send these back ;eto the 'fihe l'fni•UniUnited States ted States to be cashed, and when he effected to cash tlaea -...them at. a discount --the1they at. eagerly u·ttlizeclutlicized at 'i'b.ethe at. opportunity to save time; this was a oonveni enceconveince at. for tfaeathem at. and more wealth for Mumford •

Anna found other things besides h.S1)Jinehappiness as in her eight yearsAnna in Africa. There were death, sickness. and pestilences. ._ _._She Mentions 8lD,()ngamong the latter the African ants,some of whichAfrica huge proportions. llo stMost dree.deddreaded 11rerewere the IllissionMission uats•ants whi-ih:which 1• festedin-fested ever, house, building and structure. Sometimes buildings had to be burned to get rid of them. The bite of these ants was -. so serious that after sixty years Anna at111still exhibits places on her feet where the ants left the:t:rtheir ind:el'ibleindelible traces. ••tbe.Another of the ant pests was the Driver ant, so large, powerfull and. s't-.'bbostubborn that even bodies of water did ne11;not stop them. ,.._e,They woa.1.4would join them- selves together above the 1u.rtact11surface of the water·ants. The Driver ants m.oYedmoved in swarms and their approach (:oul dcould 1"ebe aaenseen at gna.great .1stan••••distance When thc,ythey were seen to be com.in.=coming to,it.dtoward a settlement ille Da'liTee wou.11the natives would . close their doors and windows an11iand build. fires aroud ' tn.e:1:rtheir thomes to avoid th••them !heseThese tire:,fires ha.d.had :to.to be kept b11raingburning for •••••weeks

llightBright and more pers•.•persons died a l.r· t:r,a .• AfJ:-11,aa, fet9J"A day from African fever , . ,; i-ingRing the early .ool on1sat1•acolonisation att8l\1pl11attempts illr•• -•t 60 '8 :if #•..••three of three is Anna's ' .-' family alone were Tiet,_, ot ilvictims of it .• , Xi •l•;. ... J,.It was generally believed that

Slave Interview

Viola B. Muse JacksonvilleJacksonville

Interview with sub.e:etsubject, Jlrs. .a ScottMrs. Scott, Ed.pwoodEdgewood and llen.riefMoncrief Avenues (Route 2, Box 911) Jacksonville, 1.l.a..Jacksonville, Fla.Mrs. Scott