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Mollie Kenos,' (Iftro)
RestanMant Operator, Nurse as Washerwoman,
610 Pair Street, S. I.
27
Geneva Tonsill,
December 1, 1939.
I GOT A MMOORD.
wfou say you want no to talk to you 'bout the experiences uv my life,
is this somethial 'bout 'Gone With The Wind'? Oh, I thought maybe it was,
I've heard so much 'boat the Premiere of 'Gone With The Wind, I jest know'd
when you axed me to talk with you it was somethial 'bout that. W411, that's
alright, I wouldn't have mind UMW you nohow ef it was for I got a re-
cord and I don't mind tellinl it to nobody.
or was ton years ale when set free and I was mot free with a blind as.
Dey sold NI father in 1858. I nevah 'member %mein' him. Selo I was three
years °le and I don't 'member him. Dv sold htm from ma and five chillness
illty home life was 'bout lak the ordinary chiles in them days and I
gmess I was 'boat lak the &ilium' is today. All I can say I was Jos' a
little bad gal. 'Course, I was nevah a very snall girl in stature, was
very large and when I was only a small girl people always called as 'woman'
beams* UY my slot. I don't ',peat I was no diffint to the chillunstterday
for I notice they do 'bout the same things I did when a chile.
III was horn and raised in Waihihgton, Georgia, rat in town and I nevah
saw the country or cotton grow till I was 'bout grown. I don't know whether
I know'd what it was or not Deft' thee, I may hams.
"My father aster bilong to Mr. Sam Ellington. He sold him to Dick
Petite, a spee'later, from Mississippi. I don't 'member it but MY as toll,
us &Ulnas 'bout it when we grow'd up.
*Doy had slaves in pens, brume in drove* and put in dew pens jest lak
day was cows. Dey sold dew by auctionin' off to the highest bidder. I was
only a chile and nevah went 'round such. ley put girls on the block end
auctioned des off. 'What will you give for die nigger wench?' Lot of the
girls was beta' sold by their master who wus their father, taken rat out uv
the yards with their white chilluns and sold lak herds uv cattle.
*My sister was given away when she was a girl. She tole we and ma
that they'd asks her go out and lay on a table and two or three white men
would have intercourse with her We they'd lot her git up. She was jes1
a small girl bone. She died when she wus still in her young days, still a
girl. Oh! you is blessed to live in this day and don't know the tortures
the slaves went through. Roney, slavery ens bad, but I was so young I miss-
ed all the evil but chile I knowld 'bout it.
*My master whipped we once and be nevih jils' whipped we for no thin'.
It was somethinl I'd done. I was scared uv his too. I see chilluns iota'
things they shouldn't do. but I can't say Anthill' for I 'member I was a
chile and did the same thing once. I got a lot uv whippings from my ma for
I was a bad chile. My master would tell we to do a job and I'd do it,
willingly, but I went 'bout it slow lack and he'd holler, 'Concern it, get
a move on yaw. I'd say. 'I make hese terreckly. Mars* George. I make base.'
'My ma's fast owner was Marse Hamilton and be give her way to Marse
Dillon. Then Mares Dion give as and 114 chilluns to Mars* George. When I
was named I was named fer Miss Woodson Calloway, our mistress' sister.
ens born in Washington. Georgia, on February 28, 1855, and when I
was sot free with a. blind we, she took we to Sparta, Georgia.
had ter work hard for with a lind ma it was nothing she could do to
earn money. I didn't have nobody to bell: me but ma's brother. I'd go ter
him ter git a little samethin' fel. food. I stayed in Sparta until 1928. I
got lots of work there.
"I married in Sparta and wus very happy. My husband took cars uv me
and life wasn't so hard. He died, and in a year or so atter that I married
*gin. My fast husband was good to my blind as and when she died he come
home from work to stay with me and console me. He was a good. Christian
man. My fast husband drove a carriage for drummers 'round through the coun-
try. Es loved me. He supported me and our ohilluns, and my blind ma. The
white folks he worked for lak'd him and they wus nice to me too. After my
husband's death, I worked and made a good living. I cooked, waahed and
Ironed for the white folks. /hen I married ay second husband I sholly mar—
ried a wealthy man. I 'member I went into the smoke house and when I saw
all that meat, hans, shoalders, lard and sausage in dat house. I said,
'Lawdy, is all dis mine?' He had turkeys, geese, galnea and ducks. He had
a lot uv ohilluns and when I married him the white folks said a quorum uv
us got together and asked. ourselves. 'What did a woman lak you marry ole
man rensey fee' I tole them 'cause was jest lonesome. I was tired uv
living by myself.
"After my husband. Mr. Kensey, died. I opened a restaurant in Sparta
and I Aidn't run no shoddy place either. This best people at at my place.
Mr. Britt, a business men there in Sparta and for whose wife I'd nursed,
aoald tell peorle to go down to eat at 'Mollie's' place. I fed whit. and
colored. bad a place in the front where I served the white and they
liked my victuals too. Soldiers, railroad men, and drummers came to eat
at my place. I stayed in Sparta until 1928, when times set so bad..
Mr. Britt had a friend. a Mr. Kauflasn, o.et lived in Atlanta and be et at
my place at times. Mr. Imam said be saw I was a smart woman and asked
we why I didn't come to Atlanta? he tole me he'd get a* a job as a nurse.
See, he'd seed how I nursed for Mrs. Britt and saw I wus a good nurse.
01 (tome to itlaatit in l92S and got a job lak Mr. Kaufman promised me.
I've worked for Mrs. Stephens, Mrs. Adams, and a lots uv other whits folks
since tee job with Mrs. Zaufman. Men I 'plied for my ole age nemsiOn they
all signed Ay papers and recommended me high.
"I'm ole and I've uevah dons nothin' to nobody. I aevah did lak
lot av other ole women, run places of vice. I nevah run no had house. I've
livei richt. wvney, I'm a history and I'm proud uv it. I'm glad for the
-.0r11 t-) 'mow I've lived and I feel ,aroud to talk 'bout it.
lAf:-r I mocked fer different families. I started washing and ironing
far tbs Chsvrelet Company. I mulled fer the uen workeru there and made
417 k .ad 418 a vim ek Toney,
I aluays wIrked ad made my living after my
husband died and did it till I wus too ole. I lavish asked i soul fel. a
:pearly. revel have ii:iven me small change after I tole them my pension had
beol taken awn. from me. I didn't ask fer a penny. I guess my eyes Jess
tole them UY my condition. See, I had to work fel. myself. All my ohilluns
had died.
1414 last son died and. left a chile. The me had died befo' him. I
took the chile to live with we. I know'd he'd be lonesome widout his ma
r.d. 7a _tnJd I wus so alone &ald wus glad ter git him to stay wid me. Well,
we via gittit"long well and. then God took my grandson and le' me alone
all alone 'td nobody. 40 relatives. NO one ter do a thing for as. I washed
and prayed 'cause I know'd Cod know'd that he wus doin' and. that I'd never
be alone as long as God lived. Be would always be my company. I thanked
God and stayed in the straight and sorrow path. I got tired, ay back ached,
W, feet got sore, and my legs would give way sometime but I worked on and
on, thanking God dat Ie'd spired we to stay on heah. Honey, I know'd he
kept as fer something and I wus thankful.
*One day, in 1930, when I'd lost my grandam I woe so burdened and sod,
I net a white woman in the street. She looked at as and she must've seed
my heart, fer she said, 'Say, you look worried and burdened. Well, I've
taken your burdens, I have then all now and, listen, you go holm and read
the Ninetp.first Psalm and read them three times a day.' I went home and
time I gat there I got my Bible and I found the sertmtere she tole me to
read and there I saw, He that dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High
shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the Lord, Re
is my refuge and Wy fortress; my God; in bin will I trust. Surely he shall
deliver as from the snare of the fowler, and from the noisome pestilence...
Thou shalt not be afimid for the terror by night; nor for the arrow that
Meth by day; nor for the pestilence that walketh in darkness; nor for the
destruction that wasteth at noonday. A thousand shall fall at thy site, and
then a thousand at thy right hand; but it shall not come nigh thee.' On and
on I read and chile, I got 'lief, I felt light and wusngt burdened and chile,
I've read that Psalm three times a day ever since. I have learned it by
heart. It has been a prop for me, It consoles me.chile. and I want you to
go home and. read it. Get your Bible and read it, read it three times a day,
and ask God for what you want and he gwine ter hear you. Bead it, chile,
won't yout
wigs glad know how to read. I read everything I get 187 hands on.
Oh, its sich a comfort. I did know how to writs but I got sick once, and
after I wus well, I couldn't writs, I'd forgot how to make a 0D, even.
"Top wants ter know how I made out after my grandson died and I got
too ole to work? I went and asked for my pension and them white folks
sent in some good rocimondations fer me. I got it. They sunt me 013.50
ivory month. Honey, I noodod it. I didn't have nobody to get me a moufl-
ful of vittles. But let as tell you this before I tell you 'bout my peep
sion.
"Defoe I moved from Washington Street ter come °wish hook I ems wash-
ing one day and I wus so weary. A chile dat I kneel& since he ems knee
high to a duck he wus my best friend's chile and had played round PY
do' stops wid my grandson 00, honey, you may not believe it but dat chile
cone up. He wus grown then. I was there whin', singinl, and praininl
God dat he had let as live. H. later tole me that while he stood there
wetchie he said to hisself, 'God, fix it so I can take care of Miss
Mollie.' Re said I had my head tied up and I seemed so happy. He said
he kept that thought in mind and, attor his mother died and only him and
his brother lived in the house, he cons for me. His mother had left a big
house with nobody in it but the two boys. lverybody 'spoctod him to go
out and bring in highp.feelutin' people to live with them, but he didn't.
Chile, he went out atter Lammas he bro4ght in pore me. He said be
watdhed me wash, wash, *vs& day that he come to sae me and his desire eus
to do somethin' for me as he watched as, suds flyinl and body bent, singin'
mid the spirit of God in my soul, because I looked so tired and alone. He
made up his mind then and there, 'I'm gain' to take Miss Mollie home wid
me and she won't have ter work so hard.' Chile, when he said. 'Miss Mollie,
come on and stay with me and my home will be our home,' I could hardly be-
lieve my ears and when it did go through my held, honey. I forgot them suds
and them clothes. I throwld up my bands and shouted far joy, 'cause there
was God showerinl his blessings on me. Chile, I'd been singled out and God
wus givial me a home. I knowld all 'long that God wasn't gels' ter let as
stay there by myself. I stayed with God. I worked for him. I got a reeord
with God and he was lwardial as fir that record. He took ma out UT the
mirey clay and put my feet on higher groun', he brought me outs that into
Roaey, I wasn't able to stay there nohow, but 'Miss Mollie' Jos' had ter
keep gelatin'. Roney dats the fruit of MAI a record wid God.
*I jined the A.M.B. Church in 1871. I crossed ovah on the bawl& side
then and have been there evah since and I'm so proud uv it.
*Did I tell you that God called me to preach? Well, be did in 1914.
I was in Sparta, in my resSaarant, and I was tired, I west out on the front
steps and sot down. While I sot there I saw a young boy that /Id knowld
since he wus a baby in his ma's arms, and SOSO more meas, in stripes, chain-
ed tergether, from the chain gang. I sot there, my heart bleedin' fer that
boy, my heart wus so heavy and I had so much sorrow in my heart for him, and
I prayed for him. I couldn't get him offa my mind. I went home that night
and read my Bible. honey. I got mid the Laird. I turned page atter page and
read. I got down on my knees and prayed. I said, 'God, don't want to go
to the chain gang and I don't want to go to hell, I want to be your servant,
take me and use me as you will.' That morninl, Jos' befol day, I had a
call. God Almighty put a seal on my right band, this band, chile, this hand,
and he lifted me in a airplane and carried me through the sky and landed me
down in my church yard. Roney. I wus preachins, preachial, Lenin' what God
had done and uv his blessings. Whoa I landsd in the churchyard some uv my
sisters and brothers uv the church was there. Some uv tho sisters said,
Moab you come wid a now tole them, no this is the same ole
time Iligion and God had called me ter proach. to go out and tell the won'
uv his great love and wus prow:thin' and wus swine ter do servico for
Sim. He had put a seal on wr hand, markinl se for his cause. I tole ir
husban' 'bout it. I said. 'Mr. Kimsey, a woman that had tho call I had
'fo day dis morning would nevah squats* another dish rag &gin but would
take her grip in her hen' and go out ter preach.'
"I didn't go out and preach on thi highways and byways but I tell you
I preaChed and I'm still prim:hint. I'm preachin' in my home.
"I've stayed in the A. N. B. Church since I was sixteen years old.
Both uv my husbands was Baptists but I stayed in the A. M. B. Church.
Some peoplo have gone from church to church but I stayed in the faith and
I'm gwine tor helm some day. Bow. I'm vine ter put on wry robe, my
crown, my golden slippers and gwine ter hots., chile, I'm gwine ter walk
them golden streets and I ain't ovine tor study war no more. Honey, I has
fought a battle bosh.
gits happy ovah Noah somstime and I can't koep quiet but I soon come
to myself and say, have to stop this, people uv terday don't shout any
more and they might think that I'm area. They'll say Boy got a craw ole
woman ovah them' So I keep quiet sometimes. but I ,pos, want ter shout and
prides his name. But chile, of this olo world would tabs off some uv them,
airy ways and the people would come back ter God, on bondsd kneow, should:A'
and lettin' the world know they wus living right, this would be a bettah
'peril honey. a bettor won].' to live in. I read about the war all ovah this
won'. Chile, that is a fulfillment mv the Bible. Chile, we is livin' in
the Revelations, the last days. The end is not far away. for this ole won'
is gwine ter be destroyed agin. aod tole us, though, he wusn't gwine tor
Istroy it by watah this time but by fire. Honey, he'd prim, ter do that
too. He tole them words years and years ago but they is fulfillin"causo
with all these airplanes flying through the air, they drop Sin' bombs down
on people, istroyin' hundreds and hundreds at the time, you know that's
how God's gwine ter istroy this won'. Roney, won't that be a pitiful day?
tole you I was once ,Yettin' my ole age pension anzl you wanted ter
know why I ain't gittin' it now. My visitor jes' took my nension 'way from
me. Vow did she dm it" The did it 'cause ihe had no feelini far a none ole
woman. My visitor tole me she had to take it 'cause I had a stepdaughter in
the city. Tee, I have a stepdaughter heah, but she ain't able to 'snort her-
self. She is sixty-seven years ole herself. She ain't nothin' ter me. I
only married her fv•ther. She wus 'bout grown then. I'm jos' a ole woman,
without nobody to give me a thing and of I hadn't taken in by Ray heath, I'd
be in a bad fix and I tell you I'm thankful. I have another visitor and I've
seed her only once since she's been on in therlace uv the one that took my
pension away from me.
Hlhen the visitor come to tell me that they'd cut my pension I tole her
she did me wrong and that God wus ovine ter make her suffer. She wusn't
gwine ter prosrer. God ain't goin' ter bless her, far heah I wus with no-
body to keen me and she cut me off. Heah I wus unable to git about on my
feet. I tole her everything snd tole her the truth. She kept sayin' she
cut me off because I have a sterdaughter, jam' think uy it, she took my pen-
sion far a little somethin' lak that. I tole her I'd tole her 'bout my
stepdaughter and 7
-10
there the same thing mad evah thing I knowld from the birth of Jesus
Christ to the birth of the devil.
Ay stepdaughter is ole and. unable to
do fer herself, let 'lone me. I tole all them snits folks that when I
first vent ter dat 'leaf office and 'plied for the ole age pension and
what did she want to cut “es of for. ?hem white folks had seed from all
the recTmendations sent them that wus in need and that everybody said
I was in need and that everybody said I wus a hard worker long as I could.
Int$ no skinflint. I worked and I'd do it no ef I wus able. veil. they
saw that and give it to me and I felt so good. I didn't feel a burden on
Roy neah 'cause T give him nay fer half uv the coal I ase and the Tittles
I et and I felt proud ter do it, but what did that nigge- dn, she took it
away from me. Honey, you see me standin' heah, a pore, helnless, God
fearin' critter. Jog' as sh- as I stands heah she's gwine ter ream it. She's
flyint high now, out, mind yo,l, God's gwine ter punish her for that. Honey.
7011 see I ain't got unbpdv and I's too ole to work. I have ter inch along
till I git nuta a chair atr 1 set down. I ain't no 'count. That's Why
I wus an long letting you in. I jes couldn't it up time I heard you
knoc. Roney, but I'm roud ter tell you. I didn't rast out, I'm jog' plain
worn out, chile. live you my 'try. yes, I'm glad tor give it, I'm glad
for slam al, ter know that Woe Mollie' is got a record.
Lite, ain't t 'leaf office? ::nin't you do some
tin 'bout
neASi
ack. I klow yoll'd know how ter go 'bout
lt -seed me, 7,01.-, seed th,i-t I'm a re ole woman and. you'd know jos'
what tr' tell them white folks. You could git to see them. I can't. I
went down there two or three times. I nevah got ter see nobody but them
ni&..,rs And. they always tell le somethini, but they les' won't let me see
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them white folks. Do something 'bout it fir as.
I explained to 'Miss Mollie' that there was nothing I could do to
have her pension retired. I made it clear to her that I wasn't connect-
ed with the department that handled her pension. I did, however, try to
explain clearly and convince her that her visitor didn't willfully take
her pension as she thought and by no means had she done it because of
malice to her. She had to obey orders handed down from higher authority
and I asked her before she got too far obsessed with the idea to go and
talk with her visitor, because I felt her pension wadi be returned to her
as soon as money was available and that as far as I could understand it had
been taken, not only from her but many many others, for the sake of reduc-
ing the overhead expense the department was running into daily. I also exp.
plained to her that in suspending the pension a reason for that suspension
had to be given and that is why her visitor said she had a stepdaughter in
the city, although she knew the daughter was doing nothing for her. It was
a thing the department had to do immediately and the workers lust snatched
at anything so as to give a reason. She was so happy that I explained it
to her. She said. Honey, I knowgd you'd know 'bout it and would tell me,
and it was providential you come heth this day. I see it clearly now. Vim
gwine ter do us' lak you said, wiat, fer I do believe from what you sp.
I'm gwine ter git it baCk.
"Eoney, you fixing ter go? I'm glad God at you heath. Come batik
sometime and talk with 'Miss Mollie'. Ef you want ter know anything else
'tout me come boat. I wus glad to give you my record, fel. 'Miss Mollie'
got a record. honey, I got a record and I ain't ashamed uv it and I'll tell
you the truth, I got a record with God too."