Nesbitt Memorial Library Journal, Volume 3, Number 1, January 1993 Page: 3
50 p. : ill., ports. ; 28 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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The Slave Narratives of Colorado County
edited by Bill Stein
Two narratives by ex-slaves who lived in Colorado County during their years
in servitude, and one by a former slave who apparently came to Texas just after the Civil
War as a very young employee of a family who owned a plantation near the present site
of Weimar, have been discovered. Two of the three narratives, those of James Green
and John Thompson, were the result of interviews by employees of the Federal Writers'
Project and were among the narratives published in the multi-volume The American
Slave: A Composite Autobiography (George P. Rawick, editor, Westport, Connecticut:
Greenwood Press, 1977). Dick Dervin's narrative, its origin otherwise unknown, was
first published in The Eagle Lake Headlight of June 11, 1943.
The narratives of James Green and Dick Dervin had introductions which have
been reprinted here; that of John Thompson did not. Previous published versions of
these narratives attempted to replicate the peculiar pronunciations and speaking style
of the ex-slaves by corrupting the spelling of the words they used. Herein, the words
have been presented in their correct forms, though of course, none has been changed
or rearranged. For purists, the original versions have been included in an appendix.
Thompson's narrative also obviously was interrupted by questions from the interviewer.
These questions have been omitted from all known published versions of the narrative.
Narrative of Dick Dervin
1943
This story was secured by Lyle T. Phillips from Dick Dervin of Garwood. It
so impressed Mrs Clarence B. Stephens and others who read it that Mrs Stephens typed
it, retaining the originality of spelling, composition, etc., so characteristic of the Negro
race. The Headlight is pleased to give it space, feeling that references made therein will
prove of interest to numerous readers because it recounts events and incidents
connected with Colorado County pioneers of the yesteryear.
Being requested by many of my friends to write [the] history of my life, I
concluded to do so, hoping it may prove [an] inspiration to the negro student.
I were born a slave, in year of 1859, Tom and Rebecca Dervin being my
parents. [They were] owned by David Rhodes of Colorado County, Texas. [His]
plantation [was] on [the] east bank of [the] Colorado River, two miles south of Dr
Lawrence Washington's home. Dr Washington's home were near the present rice canal
owned by Mr W. K. Lehrer on the Colorado River.' My memory is clear [as] to practices
on the plantation. Parents [would] go to work at four a. m., sunrise. Each child went
to the care of Granny Hannah. She fed them in a long wooden tray, corn bread, milk
and peas, mixed. I often think of we children's good time when I look at a bunch of pigs
1 Henry D. Rhodes purchased 612 acres in the James J. Ross Survey on the east side of the Colorado
River south of Columbus and just west of the then fledgling town of Eagle Lake and 468 acres described as
a homestead across the river in the Samuel Kennelly Survey on December 31, 1858. The latter tract had once
been owned by Lawrence Augustin Washington and was adjacent to land he still owned. In 1860, Rhodes
owned 103 slaves, making him the fourth largest slave holder in the county. (See Deed Book K, pages 33
and 34, Office of the County Clerk, Colorado County, Texas, and Eighth Census of the United States, Schedule
2, Slave Inhabitants.)
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Nesbitt Memorial Library. Nesbitt Memorial Library Journal, Volume 3, Number 1, January 1993, periodical, January 1993; Columbus, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth151387/m1/3/: accessed June 12, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Nesbitt Memorial Library.