File							Distric #6
Copied							Clark County
1/15/41							Racial Group
BM

			WATT JORDAN

		   Ex-slave, age 80.



	"I member I wuz eight years old when freedom wuz declared.

My parents wuz Roe en Martha Jordan.  Dey wuz owned by some Jordans 

of Flenin'sburg, Kaintucky, en den we wuz owned by Dick Spencer.

I member his sellin' us ter old man Peedicky, en den tradin' a

piece of land fer us de same day, en gettin' us back."

	"De Spencer plantation waz'nt big en dey wuz'nt so many

slaves on it.  My grandmother lived on de same plantation with

us, but dey sold her off somewheres, en we nebber seen er heard 

tell of her ergin.  Once, ole man Spencer give her er good whippin',

kaze she stole food fum de house fer us chillun, en I member itm

kaze we who' nebber got hardly nothin' ter eat."

	"Spencer's plantation wuz jes' nex' ter de country school, 

en us chillun cud see de white chillun goin' ter school en playin".

But ef de white folks caught us all with er book we got er whippin'."

	"De wuz thirteen of us chillun.  I member best, Molly, Walker,

Charles, Aggie, Henry, en Zeke.  Dey wuz fixin' ter sell us ergin

when freedom wuz declared.  My mother she wuz sick , en she wuz feared

we ud all be sold down south somewheres, en she'd nebber see us ergin."

	"Dey furnished shoes fer de grown-ups ter wear en de winter, but

en summer dey went bar'footed.  En chillun went bar'foot all de time;

when it wuz cold weather dey wuz s'posed ter stay en de cabin."

			

Works Progress Administration (WPA) Ex-Slave Narratives

Watt Jordan, Ex-Slave Narrative