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THE CHATTANOOGA NEWS, CHATTANOOGA, TENNESSEE – 1931
WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN?
J. E. Sanders Finds Negro From Franklin County, Tennessee, in Far Away Liberia
Former Slave, Wins Fame as Herb Doctor
By J. E. SANDERS
Many are the sad and varied are the tales and stories which drift to us from what is known as the “dark continent”.
Such are the usual tales, that when we see another published, we can only imagine that it also relates to some weird account of barbarism. But there are other tales of quiet and peace.
In the worlds only Negro republic there is perhaps less discontent among the native element and the Liberians than any other division of the African continent. Some of the credit is due, however, to “Uncle Sam”, whoever keeps a watchful eye on Liberia.
In Liberia there live today some few ex-slaves from the southern states, and one of these, Abraham Jackson related to me that things had not been so bad since he landed in Liberia way back in 1855. In Mount Pleasant Valley, Cape Palmas, Liberia, Abraham has lived quietly and satisfied seventy-seven years of his life.
Left 77 Years Ago.
Abe said he was thirty years of age when he left Dixieland. His masters were James and Mary Sharpe, Franklin County, Tennessee. When I told him I was familiar with the section of Franklin county and Winchester, a far-off look came into his eyes, and he said: "Boss, you don't mean you are from there!" I asked him if he called all Americans Boss, to which he answered that it was the first time he had called any white man "Boss" since his master died.
Master Sharpe was good to his slaves, he said, and that when the "Missus" died, and she died last, the will stated that all of the slaves who wished to return to Africa might do so, the rest would be resold. All but five of the thirty odd slaves left for Liberia in 1854.
Today Abe said he was the last survivor. He looked the typical old southern darky, low, stocky, with a long white beard, and his shoulders drooped with the weight of 107 years. He does not regret that he left America for "Here," he said. "I can live as I want to and, best of all, be my own boss." Abe still makes his own garden, and with the $5 he receives from the Liberian government as a pensioner, he and his seventh wife and child live contentedly. At the age of ninety-two he claimed his seventh wife as the fee for curing her rheumatism.
Lots
of Work, Drink.
Abe is an herb doctor of renown in this section. When asked to what he attributed his longevity he said: "Plenty of hard work and good liquor. I Work in my garden and drink a pint of gin every day." Upon leaving him I gave him an American 50-cent piece and he said: "Thank you, Boss, I been wondering how I was going to get my liquor today and here de Lord done provided de money."
He watched me with a steady gaze until I passed out of sight, perhaps wondering if after all these years America and Franklin County. Tennessee ever really existed or if it all was a dream.
* * * * * * *
Now, we'll .take a little jump over to Kano, Nigeria. In the above picture, the writer is seen standing before a jeweler's shop in the great native bazaar of Kano, where the Hausa, the Greek the Assyrian trader matches wit with the sheiks of the great Sahara.
The jeweler can fit your finger give you the latest in earrings "a la Africaine”, in aluminum, wrought iron or 18 karat brass, guaranteed. Or be can give you the latest in anklets of a weight from less than an ounce to the ultra-modern size and weight of up to five pounds. But beware of his wares lest you pay the price of gold.
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