Mary now past the century mark, her lean bronze body resting in a
rocker, her head wrapped in a white 'kerchief, and puffing slowly on her
clay pipe, expressed herself in regard to presidents: "Roosevelt has
don' mo' than any other president, why you know ever since freedom they
been talkin' 'bout dis pension, talkin' 'bout it tha's all, but you see
Mr. Roosevelt he don' com' an' gived it tu us. What? I'll say he's a
good rightus man, an' um sho' go' vot' fo' him."
Residing in her little cabin in Eatonville, Florida, she is able to
smile because she has some means of security, the Old Age Pension.
DADE COUNTY, FLORIDA, FOLKLORE
Ex-Slaves
REV. ELI BOYD
Reverend Eli Boyd was born May 29, 1864, four miles from Somerville,
South Carolina on John Murray's plantation. It was a large plantation
with perhaps one hundred slaves and their families. As he was only a
tiny baby when freedom came, he had no "recomembrance" of the real
slavery days, but he lived on the same plantation for many years until
his father and mother died in 1888.
"I worked on the plantation just like they did in the real slavery days,
only I received a small wage. I picked cotton and thinned rice. I always
did just what they told me to do and didn't ever get into any trouble,
except once and that was my own fault.
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