The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1907-06-30
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out the negro was sold TO the owner Of
livery stable for 1850. The darkey IN
return for the sale Of his birthright re-
ceiviHg only about S21 He had hoped 70
rJu away and get back 10 the Calf Pen
and freedom, but the stable man got q
hint II the fraudulent game and sold the
poor fellow 20 Louisiana planter. once
on a plantation on Red River-the cotton
paradise-there was no more hope Of
freedom
I am not informed as to what the laws
Of Louisiana were in regard to free ne
groes before the war; but I think these
negroes in some instances must have
owned slaves / knew several well-tO-do
free Creole negroes who had cotton farms
in the fertile swamp lands bordering on
small bayous, that were cultivated by
other negroes. not Of the owners family.
retuiners Of the house and practically
slaves.
Practlced In New Orleans.
In New Orleans. as is well known.
there were hundreds OF free negroes,
dwelling in quarter Of the city 10 them
selves-some Of them in comparative lux
ury and having servants 10 wait on them.
Whether or not these servants were &C
tual slaves. I do not know, but it is GER
tain that these Quadroons sometimes sold
their young relatives as slaves-secretly,
Of course. They were an idle, pleasure
loving set: the women noted for their
graceful dancing. their fine igures-and
their immortality
An instance Of the sale of young free
negro into slavery came under my OBJ
servation. I have never known anything
more pathetic. The girl-a child eleven
years old-was sold to a Red River
planter by her brother-in-law. The
transaction was. Of course. a secret one.
and the child, when she left her native
city to become a field hand or a cotton
plantation, thought she was going on a
visit She was nearly white. slim, and
graceful She spoke both French and
"Merican." sang, danced. and played on
the guitar / was quite young at the
time. but I have never forgotten Ma
thildes despair when she realized that
she was never 10 go back to her dear
New Orleans and her life Of freedom and
happy idIeness. Being wholly unused To
labor. the work in the malaTial cotton
fields soon ended her young life. In her
delirium she would wonder when the boat
was going to stop to take her home, and
why her sisters had not sent her trunk
with her white dress and her dapcing
slippers In it.
Free Negroes DisliIyed.
It is curious fact that the free negroes
in the South before the emancipation
were despised and prosecuted by the
slaves OF their own race. The white cit-
zens had actually to protect this class
from the abuse and maltreatment of the
slaves. They were spoken of contemptu-
ously as dem low-down free niggers, %
and refused any kind of hospitality. This
queer feature Of the slave character has
been pictured by Joel Chandler Harris in
one Of his realistic plantation stories
called. If l remember rightly, Free Joe. -
Scorn for those he regards as beneath
him is a characteristic of the negro. Per
sons who did not own slaves before the
war were held in contempt by the ne
grOes If these persons were ignorant and
shabbily dressed. they were spoken o;
as no count pO white trash" If they
wore good clothes, they were called poor
buckras" The same contempt for sup
posed interiors marks the negro to-day
The "colored lady" looks down upon
dat white 'oOrsan what does her OWL
washin'." and it is highly amusing to see
the expression Of contemptuous tolerance
on the face Of a Pullman porter as he
watches the passenger who has not given
him a fee. brush his own hat and carry
his own portmanteau.