Since slaves took the name of their owners, children in the same family would have different names.  Mr. Hockaday’s father and his brothers and sisters all had different names.  On the plantation they were called “Jones’ Jim,” “Brown’s Jones,” etc.  Many on being freed left their old homes and adopted any name that they took a fancy to.  One slave that Mrs. Hockaday remembers took the name of Green Johnson and says he often remarked that he surely was green to adopt such a name.  His grandson in Gary is an exact double for Clark Gable, except he is brown, and Gable is white.

Many slave owners gave their slaves small tracts of land which they could tend after working hours.  Anything raised belonged to them and they could even sell the products and the money was theirs.  Many slaves were able to save enough from these tracts to purchase their freedom long before the Emancipation.

Another condition that confronted the negro in the north was that they were not understood like they were by the southern people.  In the south they were trusted and considered trustworthy by their owners.  Even during the Civil War, they were trusted with the family jewels, silver, etc., when the northern army came marching by, whereas in the north, even though they freed the slaves, they would not trust them.  For that reason, many of the slaves did not like the northern people and remained or returned to the southern plantations.

The slave owners thought that slavery was right and nothing was wrong about selling and buying human beings if they were colored, much as a person would purchase a horse or automobile today.  The owners who whipped their slaves usually stripped them to the waist and lashed them with a long leather whip, commonly called a blacksnake.

Mrs. Hockaday is a large, pleasant, middle-aged woman and does not like to discuss the cruel side of slavery and only recalls in a general way what she had heard old slaves discuss.

Federal Writers’ Project
of the W.P.A. 
District #6
Marion County
Anna Pritchett
1200 Kentucky Avenue

Folklore
Robert Howard—­ex-slave
1840 Boulevard Place

Robert Howard, an ex-slave, was born in 1852, in Clara County, Kentucky.

His master, Chelton Howard, was very kind to him.

The mother, with her five children, lived on the Howard farm in peace and harmony.

His father, Beverly Howard, was owned by Bill Anderson, who kept a saloon on the river front.

Beverly was “hired out” in the house of Bill Anderson.  He was allowed to go to the Howard farm every Saturday night to visit with his wife and children.  This visit was always looked forward to with great joy, as they were devoted to the father.

The Howard family was sold only once, being owned first by Dr. Page in Henry County, Kentucky.  The family was not separated; the entire family was bought and kept together until slavery was abolished.