A Slave's Life by Moses Grandy PDF

A Slave's Life by Moses Grandy To-Do Date: Oct 23 at 11:59pm A Slave’s Life by Moses Grandy [Moses Grandy, born in 1786, explained what it was like to grow up as a slave.] My name is Moses Grandy. I was born in Camden county, North Carolina… The master, Billy Grandy, whose slav...

A Slave's Life by Moses Grandy To-Do Date: Oct 23 at 11:59pm A Slave’s Life by Moses Grandy [Moses Grandy, born in 1786, explained what it was like to grow up as a slave.] My name is Moses Grandy. I was born in Camden county, North Carolina… The master, Billy Grandy, whose slave I was born, was a hard-drinking man; he sold away many slaves. I remember four sisters and four brothers; my mother had more children, but they were dead or sold away before I can remember. I was the youngest. I remember well my mother often hid us all in the woods, to prevent master selling us. When we wanted water, she sought for it in any hole or puddle formed by falling trees or otherwise. It was often full of tadpoles and insects. She strained it, and gave it round to each of us in the hollow of her hand. For food, she gathered berries in the woods, got potatoes, raw corn, &c. After a time, the master would send word to her to come in, promising he would not sell us. But, at length, persons came who agreed to give the prices he set on us. His wife, with much to be done, prevailed on him not to sell me; but he sold my brother, who was a little boy. My mother, frantic with grief, resisted their taking her child away. She was beaten, and held down; she fainted; and, when she came to herself, her boy was gone. She made much outcry, for which the master tied her up to a peach-tree in the yard, and flogged her… My young master and I used to play together; there was but two days’ [sic]difference in our ages. My old master always said he would give me to him. When he died, all the colored people were divided amongst his children, and I fell to young master; his name was James Grandy. I was then about eight years old. When I became old enough to be taken away from my mother and put to field work, I was hired out for the year, by auction, at the court house, every January: this is the common practice with respect to slaves belonging to persons who are under age. This continued till my master and myself were twenty-one years old. The first who hired me was Mr. Kemp, who used me pretty well; he gave me plenty to eat, and sufficient clothing. The next was old Jemmy Coates, a severe man… I was next with Mr. Enoch Sawyer, of Camden county. My business was to keep the ferry, and do other odd work. It was cruel living. We had not near enough of either victuals or clothes. I was half :  starved for half my time. I have often ground the husks of Indian corn over again in a hand- mill, for the chance of getting something to eat out of it which the former grinding had left. In severe frosts, I was compelled to go into the fields and woods to work, with my naked feet cracked and bleeding from extreme cold: to warm them I used to rouse an ox or hog, and stand on the place where it had lain. I was at that place three years, and very long years they seemed to me… It was some time after this that I married a slave belonging to Mr. Enoch Sawyer, who had been so hard a master to me. I left her at home, (that is, at his house,) one Tuesday morning, when we had been married about eight months. She was well, and seemed likely to be so. We were nicely getting together out little necessaries. On the [sic] Friday, as I was at work, as usual, with the boats, I heard a noise behind me, on the road which ran by the side of the canal. I turned to look, and saw a gang of slaves coming. When they came up to me, one of them cried out, ‘Moses, my dear!’ I wondered who among them should know me, and found it was my wife. She cried out to me, ‘I am gone!’ I was struck with consternation. Mr. Rogerson was with them, on his horse, armed with pistols. I said to him, ‘For God’s sake, have you bought my wife?’ He said he had; when I asked him what she had done, he said she had done nothing, but that her master wanted money. He drew out a pistol, and said that, if I went near the wagon on which she was, he would shoot me. I asked for leave to shake hands with her, which he refused, but said I might stand at a distance and talk with her. My heart was so full that I could say very little. I asked leave to give her a dram. He told Mr. Burgess, the man who was with him, to get down and carry it to her. I gave her the little money I had in my pocket, and bade her farewell. I have never seen or heard of her from that day to this. I loved her as I loved my life. Source: William Loren Katz, ed. Five Slave Narratives: A Compendium. New York: Arno Press and the New York Times, 1968. :