Alabama ex-slave Molly Hammond

IT’S ABOUT TIME has posted excerpts from slave memories of Christmas in the American South, taken from The Slave Narratives, a collection of interviews with 3,500 ex-slaves compiled by the Federal Writers Project and archived at the Library of Congress. Molly Ammond is quoted:

“Us was treated fine. Our folks was quality. We had plenty somp’n t’eat, but dem slaves hadda work powerful hard though. Atter dey come home fum de fields dey was so tired dat dey go right to sleep, except when de massa had barbecues. Christmas was de big time; dere was several days to res’ an’ make merryin’…”

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