Underground Railroad: Storyteller shares 'firsthand' account of escaping slavery

Storyteller and historic interpreter Jackie Ruffin shares a 'firsthand account' of a woman who escaped slavery in NC and got a job on the Roanoke River.
Posted 2/7/2022, 10:16:00 AM Updated 2/7/2022, 9:44:50 PM

I'm Patsy Young

I left Master Hunts Plantation and heard about free people

of color able to work on the role no canal

And I wanted that job

I was tired of working for Master huh Making dresses

for big parties and men's suits and cooking cakes and

baking cakes and pies and oh they just love my

cakes and pies and my l they drank a lot

of my and Hunt made so much money off of

me

I went on and get me a job on the

roanoke canal

Okay

I took Eliza with me and I met Israel johnson

who helped me prove that air

mr Tillery and mr cotton and Hillary north Carolina and

then Scotland neck and a big bar

We made lots of air

I made lots of money cooking dinners and lunches for

the men that worked on the Roanoke canal

Now I heard they had an advertisement outfit and Israel

where he was a boatman and he knew the ways

of the rivers

So we decided we were gonna get away before Master

Hunt came back to get me

Sophie got on that boat early one morning

Allies or not

And it's And we rolled

Got to keep on keeping on my Lord

I got to keep on keeping on oh keep on

keeping on freedom of freedom

Freedom over me

And before I be your slave I be buried in

my grave and go home to my Lord and be

free

We found freedomland

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