dolls, or a ball of yarn, if there happened to be enough of old string
to make one. Any toy or plaything was allowed that did not point toward
book-knowledge. Nursery rhymes and folk-lore stories were censured
severely and had to be confined to events that conveyed no uplift,
culture or propaganda, or that conveyed no knowledge, directly or
indirectly. Especially did they bar the mental polishing of the three
R's. They could not prevent the vocalizing of music in the fields and
the slaves found consolation there in pouring out their souls in unison
with the songs of the birds.




Federal Writers' Project
of the W.P.A.
District #6
Marion County
Anna Pritchett
1200 Kentucky Avenue, Indianapolis, Indiana

FOLKLORE
MRS. MITTIE BLAKELEY--EX-SLAVE
2055 Columbia Avenue, Indianapolis, Indiana


Mrs. Blakeley was born, in Oxford, Missouri, in 1858.

Her mother died when Mittie was a baby, and she was taken into the "big
house" and brought up with the white children. She was always treated
very kindly.