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“…to keep flies off the missus…”

Narratives of Maria Sutton Clements and Frances Andrews.

Library of Congress. (2018). Slave narratives: A folk history of slavery in the U.S., Arkansas Narratives, Vol. 2, p. 25; South Carolina, Vol. 1, p. 17.

“…minding the crows…”

Narratives of Eliza Scantling and Georgina Giwbs.

Library of Congress. (2018). Slave narratives: A folk history of slavery in the U.S., South Carolina Narratives, Vol. 4, p. 79; Virginia Narratives, Vol. 1, p. 15.

“…keeping the cattle from wandering…”

Narrative of Cato Carter.

Library of Congress. (2018). Slave narratives: A folk history of slavery in the U.S., Texas Narratives, Vol. 1, p. 204.

Cato Carter

“…gathering pokeberries…”

Narrative of Sam Everett.

Library of Congress. (2018). Slave narratives: A folk history of slavery in the U.S., Florida Narratives, Vol. 1, p. 129.

Sam Everett

“…collecting chestnuts…”

Narrative of Henry Walker.

Library of Congress. (2018). Slave narratives: A folk history of slavery in the U.S., South Carolina Narratives, Vol. 4, p. 79; Arkansas Narratives, Vol. 7, p. 29.

Henry Walker

“…hens’ eggs or turkey eggs…”

Narratives of Sam Everett and Julia Cole.

Library of Congress. (2018). Slave narratives: A folk history of slavery in the U.S., Florida Narratives, Vol. 1, p. 129; Georgia Narratives, Vol. 1, p. 233.

“…with a mulberry branch…”

Narrative of Rebecca Thomas

Rawick, G. P., Hillegas, J., & Lawrence, K. (1978). The American slave: A composite autobiography: supplement, series 2. Westport, Conn: Greenwood Pub, Vol. 9, Texas, p. 3821.

Rebecca Thomas

“…silkworms…”

Narrative of Everett Ingram.

Library of Congress. (2018). Slave narratives: A folk history of slavery in the U.S., South Carolina Narratives, Vol. 4, p. 79; Alabama Narratives, Vol. 1, pp. 215-16.

Everett Ingram

“…on a trundle bed…”

Narrative of W.P. Jacobs.

Perdue, C. L., Barden, T. E., & Phillips, R. K. (1997). Weevils in the wheat: Interviews with Virginia ex-slaves. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, p. 155.

W.P. Jacobs

“…her mother’s one-footed bunk…”

Narratives of Henry Cheatam, Sara Colquitt, and William Brown.

Library of Congress. (2018). Slave narratives: A folk history of slavery in the U.S., South Carolina Narratives, Vol. 4, p. 79; Alabama Narratives, Vol. 1, pp. 66, 87; Arkansas Narratives, Vol. 1, p. 320.

“…stuffed with straw…”

Narratives of Emmet Beal and Spencer Barnett.

Library of Congress. (2018). Slave narratives: A folk history of slavery in the U.S., South Carolina Narratives, Vol. 4, p. 79; Arkansas Narratives, Vol. 1, pp. 117, 127.

“…or with moss…”

Narrative of Sam Anderson.

Rawick, G. P., Hillegas, J., & Lawrence, K. (1978). The American slave: A composite autobiography: supplement, series 1. Westport, Conn: Greenwood Pub, Vol. 12, Oklahoma, p. 5.

“…chicken feathers…”

Narrative of Sophie D. Belle.

Although Ms. Belle’s narrative does not explicitly state that enslaved persons saved feathers to make pillows, I’m allowing that conditions on the Westcott plantation were slightly more hospitable—to the extent that this can be said, at all—than on the Lucas plantation, where Anarcha is sent a little later in the book. On the Westcott plantation, she has a wooden spoon and wood floors to the cabins—the sorts of things that plantation owners would provide to their slaves and then make a point of showing off to other plantation owners, as a way of demonstrating their own wealth. Providing better conditions for the enslaved was a form of conspicuous consumption.

Library of Congress. (2018). Slave narratives: A folk history of slavery in the U.S., South Carolina Narratives, Vol. 4, p. 79; Arkansas Narratives, Vol. 1, p. 138.

Sophie D. Belle

“On clear nights…”

See “…through cracks in the roof…,” above.

“Conditions in Alabama…”

As reported in The Democrat (Huntsville, AL), November 21, 1833, p. 3, reprinting an account first published in the Florence Gazette.

“…fleshy matter fell from the sky.”

As reported in The Democrat (Huntsville, AL), November 21, 1833, p. 3, reprinting an account first published in the Florence Gazette.

“Unique to the state…”

Narrative of Abraham Jones.

I say that this is unique to the state because Jones’s account, from Alabama, is the only one I found suggesting that the falling stars created cracks in the ground. It’s of course possible similar accounts from other states went unrecorded or were not found by me.

Library of Congress. (2018). Slave narratives: A folk history of slavery in the U.S., South Carolina Narratives, Vol. 4, p. 79; Arkansas Narratives, Vol. 1, p. 138.

“Anarcha woke…”

See “…through cracks in the roof…,” above.

Narratives of an unnamed enslaved person from South Carolina and Charlotte Foster.

Although there is no direct evidence that Anarcha witnessed the night the stars fell, there are many accounts of young children having witnessed the event, and accounts of adults and children both having been woken in order to see what was regarded either as a beautiful or awful event. This was particularly true in Alabama.

Library of Congress. (2018). Slave narratives: A folk history of slavery in the U.S., South Carolina Narratives, Vol. 4, p. 79; South Carolina Narratives, Vol. 3, p. 72; Vol. 2, p. 83.

“…the horses were running wild…”

See “…one of her brothers…,” above.

Narrative of Lizzie Johnson.

Library of Congress. (2018). Slave narratives: A folk history of slavery in the U.S., South Carolina Narratives, Vol. 4, p. 79; Arkansas Narratives, Vol. 4, p. 103.

Lizzie Johnson

“At first, the young boys…”

Narratives of Berry Smith and Willis Winn.

Rawick, G. P., Hillegas, J., & Lawrence, K. (1978). The American slave: A composite autobiography: supplement, series 1. Westport, Conn: Greenwood Pub, Vol. 10, Mississippi, p. 1978; series 2, Vol. 10, Texas, p. 4251.

“It was only the children…”

Narrative of Sarah Gudger.

Library of Congress. (2018). Slave narratives: A folk history of slavery in the U.S., North Carolina Narratives, Vol. 1, pp. 356-57.

Sarah Gudger

“Pigs raced and chortled…”

Narrative of Peter Gohagen.

This is actually a description of an event that Gohagen calls The Big Dark, likely an eclipse of the sun from 1865.

Rawick, G. P., Hillegas, J., & Lawrence, K. (1978). The American slave: A composite autobiography: supplement, series 1. Westport, Conn: Greenwood Pub, Vol. 5, Indiana and Ohio, p. 73.

Peter Gohagen

“Some of the adults…”

Narratives of Sylvester Brooks, Daphne Williams, and Lou Williams.

Library of Congress. (2018). Slave narratives: A folk history of slavery in the U.S., Texas Narratives, Vol. 4, pp, 161, 166-67; Vol. 1, p. 150.

“…she would manage the plantation…”

David Westcott’s property was not officially divided among his heirs until thirteen years after his death. Between 1828 and 1841, the value of the estate more than tripled in value, and the number of slaves owned by the Westcotts had increased dramatically, as will be described later in the book. After 1841, the Westcott property is mostly described as being run by Samuel and William Westcott, and many later legal documents are in their names. This document is held at the Westcott estate materials at the Montgomery County Archives, in Montgomery, Alabama.