Tuesday, May 21, 2019
Ex-slave Fannie Brown Remembers dancing to fiddle music in 19C America
Fannie recounted, "My how dem niggers could play a fiddle back in de good ole days. On de moon-light nights, us uset to dance by de light ob de moon under a big oak tree 'till mos' time to go to work de nex' mornin'. One time de bes' fiddler in de country was playin' fer us to dance, an' he broke a string. It was too fur to go to Austin to git anodder, so he jus' played on widout de string what broke an' de tune sounded more like a squeech owl dan eny thing, but us danced jus de same."
Slave Narratives: A Folk History of Slavery in the United States from Interviews with Former Slaves. Photo from 20th century.