KES

by

Minnie Branham Stonestreet
Washington-Wilkes
Georgia

JANE SMITH HILL HARMON of WASHINGTON-WILKES

A comical little old black woman with the happy art of saying and doing
as she pleases and getting by with it, is Jane Smith Hill Harmon of
Washington-Wilkes. She lives alone in her cabin off the Public Square
and is taken care of by white friends. She is on the streets every day
carrying her long walking stick which she uses to lean on and as a
"hittin' stick". She doesn't fail to use it vigorously on any "nigger"
who teases her. She hits hard and to hurt, but it seems they had rather
hear what she has to say, and take the penalty, then to let her alone.
Her wardrobe consists of out-of-style clothes and hats given her and it
is her delight on Saturday afternoons to dress up in her finest and
fanciest creations and come strutting along down town proud of the
attention she is attracting.

Unlike most old people, Aunt Jane doesn't like to talk about the past.
She enjoys life and lives in the present. It was hard to get her to tell
anything much of her early life. Finally, however, she grew a bit
reminiscent and talked of the past for a little while.

"Yassum, I'se 88 years ole last gone May, an' I been in Washington,
Georgy fuh 53 years an' I ain't been in no Council scrape an' no Cote
nor nothin' bad lak dat, kase I 'haves myself an' don't lak niggers an'
don't fool 'long wid 'em. No'm, I sho' ain't got no use fuh niggers
'tall. An' as fuh yaller niggers--huh! I jes' hates 'em--dey's de wust
niggers de're is, dey's got dirty feets, an' dey's nasty an' mean, I
hates 'em, I tells yuh!

"I wuz borned an' raised on de Smith plantation out here a piece frum
town. I wuz one of fourteen chillun, I think I wuz de 10th 'un. We wuz
well took keer of by our Marster an' his fust wife, she wuz jes' as good
ter us as she could be, my fust Mistess wuz, but she died an' Marster
married agin an' she wuz mean ter us little niggers. She'd whup us fuh
nothin', an' us didn't known what ter do, kase our fust Mistess wuz so
good ter us, but dat last 'oman, she sho' wuz mean ter us.

"My Marster had lots of slaves an' us all had work ter do. De fust work
I done wuz churnin' an' I loved ter do 'hit kase I loved milk an' butter
so good. I'd dance an' dance 'round dat ole churn, churnin' an' churnin'
'till de butter wuz come. I allus could dance, I cuts fancy steps now
sometimes when I feels good. At one o' dem big ole