Old Josh, in: Jes' a Damn Nigger

Old Josh, in:
Jes’ a Damn Nigger
1884

Josh is feeding one of the horses some grass out behind the barn,
With Silas, and Toby from the Smiley Plantation comes
Up to talk to Josh about the trial down in Ozark,
And the hanging of Amos by several hooligans…


Josh: I been down Ozark to da trial today. It been some er dem white folk who killin’ Amos.
Toby: Who you see?
Josh: Two of ‘em.
Toby: Dere been seven of ‘em, but dey ain’ have but two, dey ain’ tryin’ to find dem haw?
Silas: Why I know who dey is, everyone does paw, ain’ dey murderers too?
Josh: Dere’ more reason dan one boy.
Silas: Wuh reason dey say?
Josh: Dey dont say, cuz dey dont want too, so you keep your nose out of it boy!
Toby: To de judge we is just niggers. Amos—a good man— when a nigger is kilt, it aint no big thing. I like to see dat de criminal git his punishment, but da judge I bet bein’ light in punishment of dem white boys.
Josh: I been to de trial, but dere ain’ no trial.
Toby: Well, I been to de court an’ I know how it is, an’ Amos been a good friend to de white folk?
Silas: Paw and Amos dey been raise up together. Dey been friend ever since dey been chillum.
Toby: An’ dey hang Amos cuz dey is drunk and wild boys.
Silas: How come dey kilt Amos paw?
Josh: Dey say he take a white boy and throw him off his hoss, when dey seven boys run on through Shanty Town, and one boy tried to rape a girl, and old Amos stopped him. But you got to know Silas, in de first place, a nigger was kilt, if-in he was a white man, dey hang him fer that, fer anything. Deys boys even plead guilty to manslaughter. I sees da jury have a little conscience, and dey give dem boys two-years in prison, or they fear a great cry ‘bout by us niggers. Amos he jes’ a poor helpless nigger, and they do a-heap er talk for two years in prison.
Toby: Why da court so lenient?
Josh: Fools like us is one reason. Toby, I ask you a question: who been kilt, an’ who de judge, and who de jury? Now brother, who is de sheriff, an’ da police? An’ dey all says: jes a nigger—a damn nigger, that all he is.


Story No: 418 (Episode No: 85) 6-20-2009

Old Josh, in: Sweet Pea hard-hearted, 1893

Josh’s wife had left him and the kids at an early age, Rebecca Boston Jefferson, nicknamed, Sweet Pea; now that Josh was in his 90s, Jordon wanted to know the story of his mother…


Josh: Well, you axe me ‘bout your maw, Sweet Pea—wey she gone, wuh happen to her. I ain’ knowin’ fer sure. All I kin say is, if-in you know Sweet Pea, you know Sweep Pea? I guh tell you wuh I know cuz I know you dont know nothin’.
Sweet Pea be a bad woman to be wit. She talk kindly an’ she have a look dat satisfy you’ eye, but she be huntin’ for danger. You know Sweet Pea ain’ never known to not meddle in nobody affairs, an’ she pretend she is soft an’ kind to everybody, mens an’ womens, an’ old folk and all. She aint never change she friendly ways to nobody ‘less dey got somthin’ fer her. Your maw waz one of dese kind er niggers dat would cut you’ th’oat in-ef you do her wrong, an’ if-in you didn’t she been polite, a mannerable nigger I ever see. De white folks love her. And when I met her you’ ole paw was crazy ‘bout her, and she give me de chillum like God sent.
Her moest fault waz mens folk, an’ dey ain’ say nothin’ ‘gainst her, none on ‘em. An’ dem mens wuh likes her git tangle up with er other mens and she never have sense enough to stop. She were sure a dang’ous woman. I ain’ never seen a bad woman folk love so much.

Jordon: I ain’ known maw, ain’ nobody knowin’ maw but you paw, the last time I sees maw, was da first time I sees her, and she only wanted to visit wit you fur some money, I reckon, dat some years ago. She a walkin’ like a lion cat, she look back onct an’ den swing her self ‘way like a bird in flight, we ain’ never seen her since.

Josh: Sweet Pea fade wid de sun set an’ dat is good, and if-in I never sees her an’ youall never sees her ‘gain, we is two lucky niggers! Now lets find some moonshine son, and drink to dat.

Short Story /sketch, No: 416 (Episode 83, written 6-18-2009)

Old Josh, in: Catfish Stew (1855)

Old Josh, in: Catfish Stew
(1855)


Silas: Where you been all day paw?
Josh: Down at Goose Creek, why you ask?
Silas: what you a-frying paw?
Josh: I is frying fish and makin’ catfish stew.
Josh: Aint you hear de news?
Silas: I aint hear a thing, I got to work paw on this here farm why you go fishin’ and drinkin’ all day long.
Josh: Why Amos and Toby they fight ‘bout da fish up yonder in the lake, dat comes down to Goose Creek.
Silas: Dey been up in those woods again…!
Josh: Yessum, an’ dey bring dey fish down to me, with all that fightin’ scare them out of the waterhole, and into mi lap.
Silas: Tell me more paw!
Josh: Dey half naked up there in the lake, and frighten in that slimy yaller mud, like two hogs in a mud-hole, near the edge of da creek, all those niggers goes up there to catch catfish, and they make catfish stew, an’ wey dey guts dey fish, they fish-fry right there, and Amos and Toby git in dis argiment, dey pushin’ an’ shovin’ each udder like two buffalo, and nobody kin ondersand and jes as well cuz the fish git away, and I katch them when they came down yonder…
I done grabbed them under de water, when dey was risin’ up. Amos holler at me, call me an’ try to ‘suade me to give em a few, I gits ten-fish, but I tell em, talk ain’ do no good, to my stomach. An’ I grab up my fish and my pole an’ run out of the creek, and I ain’ hear no more ‘bout ‘em since: Youall hungry?
Silas: I sure is, and that is one good tale pas!



Episode 82 (No: 415) Written, 6-17-2009
Written for the book “Old Josh, in: Poor Black”

Old Josh, in: Funeral from the Rocking Chair, 1896

Old Josh, in:
Funeral from the Rocking Chair, 1896

Elegy for JoshAsleep in de old Rocking ChairAbove him de mockingbird singsFree of de world below—,Old Josh is dead an’ gone;He at rest, asleep an’ free,Born a child, yet a slave;Guided by de conscience,Loved by those he loved—From de cotton fields of earthTo de mansion in de sky.An’ de white robes of JesusAn’ de black face of time—Yes, o yes, in de arms of GodHis sins are forgiven,Paid in repentance fullSing to de soul dat is flown.(#1686 2-7-2007) by Josh Jefferson, 1896
1896, Josh sleeping in his old rocking
Chair on the porch

Silas: Wakeup paw! You been sleeping in de ole rocking chair again
Josh: Brother Amos was on his knees, son, gallopin’ in heaven—
Silas: Paw yos sleeping again, Miss Emma Hightower back from Ozark, says whe wants to see ya!
Josh: I passed out en de clouds, son I her’ a voice callin’ “come, come, come my brother, come to de angel…” an’ dere Jesus was waitin’ fer me, and He say “If-en you is weary boy, I am comin’ to you all…” An’ I say, “Lord, I is comin’, Ah yes!”
Silas: Miss Emma is comin’ too see yaw paw, and she is in no mood for de chariot and Jesus in de clouds, up yonder; does yo hear dat voice callin’ ?(Josh sits up a tinge listens)
Emma Hightower: Josh, git on out here, I’m by the fence, stop your fiddling ‘bout, I got some work for you to do, if you remember what that is...!
Josh: Everybody should pay proper respect to de dead, even de white folk, she jes’ tryin’ to slow down de ole nigger so he goes first, I’m too old to do any work

Original name, “A Funeral for Josh” 2-7-2007

Old Josh, in: The White Nigger, 1840

Old Josh, in: The White Nigger 1840


Josh Jefferson is visiting Amos Jackson
Down in Shantytown, about four miles outside of Ozark, Alabama
Standing outside Amos’ shack having a conversation…


Josh: I sees it with me own eye Amos, an’ he a slave, I dont believe it!
Amos: I done hear a heap ‘bout Old man Ritt J.R. and his young-in, Hank, he but ten-year old…dey aint no friend to de nigger, I hear.
Josh: Dat’s de trouble an’ I reckon some er de things I hear is de worse, all bad intentions, like that there sheriff in Ozark, but I has my own idea ‘about da reasons, he rich and wants to be de man, and da Sheriff, wants to impress J.R.
Amos: Wuh de story of de white slave?
Josh: He come from de North he say, and he come to visit his kin, down yonder by Goose Creek, and he stop in Ozark, he a free slave from up in that there Minnesota…so he say, and he lost his paper so he say so, and Old man Ritt, see him walkin’ like he a proud nigger by da sheriff office, but he lookin’ white, hard to tell him from de white man, and da sheriff say, ‘Does you want to buy a nigger cheap?”.
Amos: a white nigger, I’ll be dogged!
Josh: And Old J.R. he say: Who is dat man? An’ he is a gentleman, and lookin’ fine, da white nigger don’t say a word, he scared like a jackrabbit from de wolf.
An’ da sheriff Parker say, ‘He a runaway slave from up North Carolina way, and he wiggle his finger say, ‘Come her’ nigger, open de mouth!’ An’ da nigger he obey, and when da nigger open hisn mout’ and when he do that, the sheriff spit down his th’oat an’ laugh, say: ‘I told you so…!”
Amos: What da white nigger say?
Josh: He dont say nothin’ he jes’ get onto the jail, and sweep it out.
Amos: What old man Ritt says?
Josh: he say, ‘That one humble nigger, I likes him, how much?’ and da sheriff say, ‘How much Youall give me?” And Ritt say, “I give you any hoss Youall wants from my stable.” And I is down there cleaning out his stable. And da sheriff say, “Okey, Youall got a deal.”

Josh: I wrote a poem down at the barn last nigh, Youall want to hear it?
Amos: If-in it aint too long!


The Stable Barn
And da White Nigger
By Josh Jefferson

I work dis barn here
Lookin’ out its iron doors
Its walls er brick?
An’ its roof got rafters
An’ I hear da hosses
Day wail an’ moan
Sound like day in Af’ica
Louder then da lion
And da white nigger
I hears his tale,
An’ I sings his song
Er misery to a nigger from
Up in da Minnesota way,
Here way down in
Ozark, Alabama!

Poem No: 2640 6-17-2009

Note: 414 (Episode: 81 of “Old Josh”) 6-17-2009