Silhouettes of Slavery

Julia

My name is Julia. I was born in 1834 in Alabama on the John Hancock Plantation. We came to Onion Creek in 1838 with Master John’s son, William Ryan, and his wife Martha. Mistress Martha died in 1850 of typhoid pneumonia and Master William died of cancer of the face in 1852. He had been sick a long time. Master’s brothers and sisters took in their five orphaned children. Master’s 15 slaves were divided among the five orphaned children. Ten-year-old James inherited me and my mother Polly so when he moved to Austin to live with his uncle, Judge John, we came too. Luckily, James’s brother 12-year-old William came too and brought his slaves, including Booker and Harriet. My mother and Booker, Harriet and I were all mulatto meaning we had a white father or grandfather.

Next door was the Moore Farm where Renty worked. He and I married and had several children before we were freed at the end of the Civil War. It was hard to make a life for our family because slaves owned nothing. Renty worked hard and bought some work tools. But in 1871 Renty was sent to the penitentiary in Huntsville for two years. My mother Polly and I took in washing to feed ourselves and the children. Renty was not the same when he came home.
(1852 W.R. Hancock Probate partition; 1871 penitentiary record; 1870 and 1880 Census)

Renty

My name is Renty Lott. I was born a slave in the Florida Territory in 1830 and came to Austin when I was twelve. I belonged to Master Martin Moore and helped take care of his livestock. My wife Julia was a slave on the Judge Hancock place, only a five minute walk away. We had our first child Butler in 1856 and another William two years later. When one of our horses killed Master Moore, white men came to the farm and listed all his property. I was listed as part of the livestock along with 21 hogs, 55 horses and 30 cattle. At that time I was 30 years old and valued at $1400 [$53,000 now]. I worked with the horses for Mistress Moore during the Civil War.

On June 19, 1865, all the slaves in Texas were declared free by General Granger. Julia and I had three children by then and nothing else-no house, no job, no housekeeping things, no tools for farming, no cows or pigs but we were free. I registered to vote, and for a few years I managed to find work.

Because white people were used to the “free” labor of colored men, the Texas legislature passed some laws, known as the Black Codes. Texas made quite a profit from arresting previously enslaved people for maybe just standing around talking, and then renting them for their labor. In 1871 I was sent to the Huntsville prison for two years where I had to work hard for no pay. I had just become a father for the fourth time, and me being gone was really hard on my family. After I got out of prison I then had two strikes against finding work: I was colored and I had a prison record.
(1860 M. Moore death inventory; 1867 Voter Registration; 1870 census; 1871 Huntsville Penitentiary doc)

Mary and Ujena

My name is Mary and I’m 8 years old. This is Ujena; she’s 2. Our mother was a slave owned by Master Gideon White so when we were born, the law says we became his slaves, too. After he died, our family was broken up. I don’t understand why but Ujena and I were told we had to leave our mother and live with his daughter Mistress Elizabeth Moore. That didn’t last long because she sold both of us to Mistress Lee for $550 [$22,000 now]. We used to have a family, but now we are sent to live with strangers. I’m supposed to take care of Ujena but she wants her mother.
(1844 G. White probate inventory; 1846 E. White Partition Deed; 1846 Mary and Ujena sale doc))

Larrey

My name is Larrey. I was the “property” of Master Martin Moore for a year or two. Then he didn’t want me anymore. When my baby was five months old, Master Moore sold me, my baby and 2-year-old daughter, Mary, to Mistress Connor for $675 [$27,000 now]. She figures that she will have me work for her for 20 years without paying me and can sell my children if she needs money. She is supposed to give us a place to sleep and food and some clothes.
(1845 and 1846 tax rolls; 1847 Larrey and children Sale doc)

Orange

My name is Orange Hancock. I was born a slave in 1837 in Jackson County, Alabama. My daddy was my master's son, John. My "brothers", Salem, Rubin, and Payton, were also children of our white Masters. When Master died in 1855, we went to Texas with Master’s white son, Judge John Hancock.

The Judge had lots of land because he often got paid for his lawyer work with land. We cleared and planted his cotton fields and took care of his sheep, mules, horses and cattle. The Judge got married and had a white son, Edwin, just a couple of months after his colored son, Hugh Berry, was born. All us slaves lived in a row of little houses so we knew when the Judge sent his two colored sons and Eliza, their mother, to Oberlin, Ohio, in 1860. We heard that slaves are free once they get to Ohio. We tried to picture what that would be like.

When the white men started fighting each other over slavery, we secretly talked about who might win and what it would be like to be free. The Judge did not think Texas and the other slave states should be trying to form another country and even said his nephews William and James could join the Union cavalry to fight to stop them. If the Union won like he wanted, then slaves would be free. It seemed strange to us that the Judge would fight to get rid of slavery when he owned a bunch of us slaves himself. When the Judge was threatened by his Confederate neighbors, he had to secretly run away to Mexico. With the Judge and his nephews gone, my brothers and I worked under overseer Doughtry and took care of the fields and livestock. I did blacksmithing, too.

We wondered what it would be like to work for ourselves and not for a white Master, and then we found out in June 1865. I was married to Rhody, a cook on the nearby Holman plantation, and we had three daughters. So when we learned the other white men won and we were free, I went to the Holman plantation and got my family. We didn’t own anything to begin housekeeping but the Judge let me and my family live here in the big log house he bought from neighbor widow Elizabeth Moore. It was very close to the Judge’s house so I worked for the Judge doing the same things as before but now I got paid for it. My daughter Emma even went to a nearby Negro school taught by Bettie Hill and my brothers and I all registered to vote.

My brothers and I worked for the Judge for a few years, and then we decided to go work for Mr. Davis who lived a mile north and had a limestone quarry on his land. After a few years all four of us managed to buy farms about seven or eight miles north of the Judge’s house. We bought ungrubbed land and worked hard to clear tree stumps so we could plant gardens and raise livestock to take care of our families. We built our own houses. My oldest brother Salem had only one child but Rubin, Payton and I had plenty of children to help with the work. We couldn’t afford to hire any help so all of us worked hard to grow all our own food and have some butter and eggs and firewood to sell. Some of our white neighbors didn’t like us and would shoot our hogs or tear down our fence to try to make us give up. I’m proud to say my brothers and I never did!
(1856 Orange purchase doc; 1880 newspaper article on Judge John’s colored sons; 1867 Voter registration; 1875 Deed; 1880 Agricultural Census; 1937 Emma Narrative; 1990 Rubin Hancock report; 1993 Interview with Emma’s grandson Frank Wicks)

Emma

My name is Emma. I was born on the Holman plantation out Burnet Road where my mother Rhody was a cook for Mistress Patsy. My grandfather Jesse Holman was like an overseer for Master Jim. Mistress liked me and spoiled me. I was six years old when my Pappy, Orange, came to the Holman plantation and brought my mother and sisters and me back to his cabin on the Judge Hancock place, so I think that is the day we were all set free.
(1937 Emma Narrative)

Harriet

My name is Harriet. I used to belong to John Craft who sold me to Mistress Wallace. When I was 21 years old, Mistress Wallace saw an ad in the newspaper that Elizabeth Moore wanted to buy a house servant. That’s when she sold me to Mistress Moore for $600 [$24,000 now]. Mistress Moore paid for me with the money she got from selling slave children she inherited so I belonged to her only and not her husband. The Moores had just moved to their new home in the country. She had two little children, Kate and Jimmy, to take care of. I heard that they sold all of their slaves who were children so I’m warned not to have a baby.

When Master Moore died, I was 32 years old and listed as Mistress’s separate property worth $1,000 [$38,000 now]. Then there was a long war when our white masters fought against other white men who thought we should be free. On Juneteenth 1865 we learned that our masters lost and the other white men won, and we were free. I don’t know what will happen to me now.
(1849 newspaper ad; 1849 Harriet Purchase doc; 1860 M. Moore Death inventory)

Allen

My name is Allen. When I was 3 years old, I came with Master Gideon White, his wife and five daughters from Dallas County, Alabama, to a tiny village named Austin which was going to be the Capitol of Texas. It was a long trip. There were eight of us slaves: Sterling, Eda, Maria and five children. Master and Sterling built a log cabin on the banks of Shoal Creek where we all lived.

Master was killed by Indians when I was 6 years old. In his will he divided up all of us slaves so his wife and his five daughters each got some of us. Cornelia got Jim, Elizabeth got me, Louisa got Susan, Rebecca got Washington, and Narcissa got Dick. Then Mistress White began getting rid of her slaves. She sold 7-year-old Davey at auction to Wayman Wells for $312 [$12,000 now]. Then she gave more slaves to her daughters. Cornelia Johnson got Mama Maria and two children. Papa Sterling went to Louisa, Mama Eda went to Narcissa, and Bob went to Rebecca. Her other daughter Elizabeth Moore already had me, and she got two girls, Mary and Ujena. Now our family was completely broken up.

And what’s more, many of us soon were sold to other white people. When I was 13 years old, the Moores sold me for $500 [$20,000 now] to Master Hemphill in Fayette County so I knew I probably wouldn’t see my family ever again. The sales paper says we are “slaves for life” meaning we have to obey and work for white people forever.
(1838 G. White Will; 1846 Davey Sale doc; 1846 E. White Partition Deed; 1846 Allen Sale doc)