can someone please explain to me this excerpt from Mary Reynolds, an ex slave.
" He raised corn and cotton and cane and 'taters and goobers, 'sides the peas and other feedin' for n******. I 'member I helt a handle mighty onsteady when they put a old woman to larn me and some other chillun to scrape the fields.
Thank you
yes MSmith. Thank you
He raised corn and cotton and sugar cane and potatoes and peanuts, besides the peas and other food for the ?? (other slaves?). I remember I held a 's handle very unsteadily when they (the master? overseer?) sent an old woman to teach me and other children how to use the s to scrape (chop out the weeds?) the fields.
All this is reflecting what happened on plantations or farms in the South before the Civil War, right?
Certainly! This excerpt is from Mary Reynolds, an ex-slave, who is describing the work that she and other enslaved people were forced to do on the plantation. Let's break it down:
"He raised corn and cotton and cane and 'taters and goobers, 'sides the peas and other feedin' for n******."
This sentence refers to the crops that the person who enslaved Mary Reynolds grew on the plantation. The crops mentioned are corn, cotton, sugar cane, potatoes, and peanuts (also known as goobers). Additionally, the phrase "other feedin'" likely refers to other crops grown to provide food for the enslaved people.
"I 'member I helt a handle mighty onsteady when they put a old woman to larn me and some other chillun to scrape the fields."
In this sentence, Mary Reynolds recalls a specific incident where an old woman was assigned to teach her and some other children how to scrape the fields using a . The phrase "I 'member" is a colloquial way of saying "I remember," and "helt" is a dialectical variation of "held." Reynolds describes holding the handle unsteadily, indicating her lack of experience and difficulty performing the task.
This excerpt sheds light on the harsh reality of the forced labor that enslaved people like Mary Reynolds endured, and the difficult conditions they faced while working on plantations.