Slave Autobiographies
FEC
Mrs. Richard Kolb

[WAYNE HOLLIDAY
Aberdeen, Mississippi]


"I was born an' raised in Aberdeen an' I'se been a railroad nigger fo'
mos' of my days. I'se retired now 'cause dey say I too old to work any
longer, but shucks, I ain't half dead yet. I was born in 1853 right here
close to whar I live now. My folks b'longed to de Hollidays--you know de
grand folks of Miss Maria Evans? An' we stayed right dere in de lot whar
de white folks lived.

"My pa an' my ma was named Frank an' Sarah Holliday an' de Cunel brung
dem wid him frum North Car'lina. Dey was lot niggers an' never worked in
de fiel' or lived in de Quarters. My pa was one of de best carpenters in
de country. I was too young to work much but sometime I he'ped him
'roun' de house but mos' of de time, I jes played wid my brudders an'
sisters an' de white chullun what lived aroun'. We played marbles,
ridin' de stick hoss, an' play house jes lak de chullun do now days, but
I think we had mo' fun. Dey was fo'teen of us in our family an' we allus
had somebody to play wid. An' den li'l Marse Ben, he wa'nt much older
dan us.

"Our marster's name was Cunel John Holiday. He got dat title in a war
before de slav'ry war. He was too old to fight in dat one, or I spect
he'd got another title, lak Gen'ral or somethin'. He an' Miss Julia--dat
was his wife--was mighty good to us an' so was Marse Tom and Marse Ben,