{"id":422,"featured":0,"modified":"2026-06-09 20:39:44","latitude":30.679574099999999958754415274597704410552978515625,"longitude":-95.5522823000000016691046766936779022216796875,"title":"Harriett Barrett’s Experience of Slavery<br />","subtitle":"","fullsize":"https://easttexashistory.org/files/fullsize/1a0da477c7da4619e031aea007b8db60.jpg","address":"","all_locations":[],"zoom":11,"creator":["Crystal Ebo"],"description":"Harriett Barrett was born in Walker County, Texas, in 1851, into slavery, just over a decade before the outbreak of the Civil War. Her story provides a valuable perspective on the lived experiences of slavery in East Texas, particularly in relation to family, labor, violence, and memory. These experiences shaped her life and reflect the broader realities of enslaved people during that period. Through her recollections, Barrett provides a firsthand account of enslavement, emancipation, and the long, uncertain transition to freedom following the Civil War. [1]<br />\r\n<br />\r\nThrough her narrative, we learn that Harriett Barrett and both of her parents were owned by a man named Steve Glass up until the end of the Civil War. Barrett describes her parents&#039; origins, explaining that her father was born in Africa and her mother in Virginia and that both were brought to Texas before the war. She recalls having one brother, named Steve Glass, but remains unsure whether she had sisters. Barrett also mentions that her grandfather was considered “wild” and noted that formal marriages were not common in Africa as they were in the United States. [2]<br />\r\n<br />\r\nAt an early age, Harriett Barrett was assigned to cooking duties and later earned a reputation as the “Best Cook in Madisonville.” Her enslaver, Steve Glass, owned a large garden on their plantation, which meant food was often abundant. Barrett recalls cooking large skillets full of corn and meat as a common part of their diet, often provided when Glass hunted and cooked a deer in a large pot. She also mentioned cornbread and syrup as household staples. In terms of living conditions, Barrett described the slave quarters as log cabins, with beds constructed from wooden posts and deer hides stretched across them, layered with moss for bedding. [3]<br />\r\n<br />\r\nHarriett frequently referred to Glass as a “good master,” stating that he and his wife were kind, although his wife was often sick. The couple had no children of their own and lived in a large, four-room house with a wide hallway running through it. Enslaved people were allowed Saturday nights off and permitted to attend dances on nearby plantations. Barrett vividly describes these gatherings, remembering banjo playing, tin pans being beaten like drums, and dancing throughout the night. Despite emphasizing the relative kindness of her enslavers and how she would “never forget them,” Barrett also acknowledged the harsh realities of slavery. She explained that Glass owned many enslaved people and worked them for as long as he could. The slave quarters were locked at night to prevent escape, and slave patrols regularly inspected the quarters to ensure that everyone was present. Some enslaved people were able to run away to the north, but Barrett recalled Glass catching one of them and punishing him with thirty-nine lashes with a rawhide whip. The man was later chained during the day and locked up at night. [4]<br />\r\n<br />\r\nWhen the Civil War began, Glass’s wife died. Barrett recalled a preacher conducting her funeral, which she described as &quot;honoring a white angel.” Glass later remarried a woman named “Alice Long,” whom Barrett described as harsh and unkind, stating “she de bad woman, she was hard on us, not like old Missy.”  Because of her cooking skills, Glass took Barrett with him to war. During a battle in New Orleans, Glass was severely injured, and Barrett recalled chaos and gunfire everywhere, stating, &quot;Dem Yankees done shoot de roof off de house.” During this time, Harriett helped nurse Glass and the other wounded soldiers. She recalled that charcoal, onions, and honey were good for babies, while camphor helped with chills, fever, and teething. She also described boiling red oak bark to make tea for fever and using cactus root tea for chills and colic. Some remedies, she noted, even involved tying a rabbit’s foot on a string around the neck. [5]<br />\r\n<br />\r\nBarrett stated that she was &quot;shocked to death” when the Civil War ended. At the time, she was living in New Orleans and remembered crowds shouting and celebrating as enslaved people learned they were free. She describes the atmosphere as full of excitement and joy. Glass informed her that she was free but offered to pay her $2.50 a month if she chose to continue cooking for him and his wife. Barrett explained that she continued working for Glass until she married Armstead Barrett. She recalled having a large church wedding, wearing a white dress with black brogan shoes. The couple remained together for fifty-one years and earned a living through farming. [6]<br />","sponsor":null,"accessinfo":"","lede":"","website":"","related_resources":["[1] Slavery in Texas, The Narrative of Harriett Barrett; https://slaveryintexas.org/items/show/228?tour=1&index=2","[2] “Harriet (Sandles) Barrett,” WikiTree, last modified November 4, 2022, https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Sandles-26.","[3] Slavery in Texas: The Narrative of Harriett Barrett","[4] Ibid.","[5] Ibid.","[6] Ibid."],"factoids":[],"files":{"https://easttexashistory.org/files/fullsize/1a0da477c7da4619e031aea007b8db60.jpg":{"id":3017,"mime-type":"image/jpeg","title":"Illustration Representing Harriet Barrett (No Known Photograph Exists)","description":"This image serves as a representative depiction of an enslaved woman in East Texas, reflecting the domestic labor and daily conditions Harriet Barrett described in her narrative.<br />https://www.motherjones.com","thumbnail":"https://easttexashistory.org/files/square_thumbnails/1a0da477c7da4619e031aea007b8db60.jpg"},"https://easttexashistory.org/files/fullsize/0f213c39ba1f912c014decaeb540845f.jpg":{"id":3018,"mime-type":"image/jpeg","title":"Example of Slave Quarters Similar to Those Described by Harriet Barrett","description":"https://www.loc.gov/item/mesnp010000/","thumbnail":"https://easttexashistory.org/files/square_thumbnails/0f213c39ba1f912c014decaeb540845f.jpg"},"https://easttexashistory.org/files/fullsize/c3c556e0777c43d8a39aa884c03adb2f.jpg":{"id":3019,"mime-type":"image/jpeg","title":"Illustration Representing Celebrations Following Emancipation","description":"https://slaveryandremembrance.org/articles/article/?id=A0079","thumbnail":"https://easttexashistory.org/files/square_thumbnails/c3c556e0777c43d8a39aa884c03adb2f.jpg"},"https://easttexashistory.org/files/fullsize/3ce3d1598fdc847a95deeaf33c7a16a2.jpg":{"id":3020,"mime-type":"image/jpeg","title":"Depiction of Enslaved Community Gatherings and Music","description":"https://werehistory.org/christmas-on-plantation/","thumbnail":"https://easttexashistory.org/files/square_thumbnails/3ce3d1598fdc847a95deeaf33c7a16a2.jpg"},"https://easttexashistory.org/files/fullsize/869001cd1929b39456bf42027f909e26.jpg":{"id":3021,"mime-type":"image/jpeg","title":"Illustration Representing Punishment and Control Under Slavery","description":"https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna24714507","thumbnail":"https://easttexashistory.org/files/square_thumbnails/869001cd1929b39456bf42027f909e26.jpg"},"https://easttexashistory.org/files/fullsize/833d3d1f0f2b8c19e21239dc0a7c61c8.jpg":{"id":3022,"mime-type":"image/jpeg","title":"Cadastral map of Walker County, Texas, in the Piney Woods region.","description":"https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth89046/","thumbnail":"https://easttexashistory.org/files/square_thumbnails/833d3d1f0f2b8c19e21239dc0a7c61c8.jpg"}}}