Aunt Rose in 1893

THE OLD PLANTATION.

A Rosy Picture of Days Before the War,

 A Typical Antebellum MammyTells About Herself. 

The Bright Side of Slave Life 

The Dances in the Cabins, 

(Lena Bacon Dickson in the Greenville Mountaineer.)

 From childhood's earliest hours has my fancy been charmed, and I have listened with intense rapture to stories and reminiscences connected with the life the old plantation.

Particularly is this romance interesting to me was my mother and father owned many slaves, and some few even remained years after "the Surrender." While many are still living scattered far and wide, there etist mutual ties attachment bet wee the master's family and the ek and when making cerasional visits fo white folks" they will say, "Mars Joe And Miss Harriet," with the same defer: ence as in former dare. Yeet how we lore these faithful aid servants who car vied as in infancy is their strong A hushed our cries and smoothed our pains. and even nourished as from their Ntill respectfel and devoted. is it strange that we bestow upon them deferential kindness.

even affection! Under the old regime the nursery of a southern hotterhold was under the P star dominion of some dusky mammy, whose faithfulness has stood the fest of Years, and most cases merited the almost absolute jurisdiction siren her. Of this once numerous eta*s of set vanta, BOW fast passing AWAY. Femaine Mammy Rose, who in every respect typical ante bellam mammy and prides herself on being a "white folks nigger." She l4 now advanced in years, ant complains of great "misery her limbs, and on rainy days especially does her trouble hers but notwithetanding her many ills, there is to one like Aunt Itose when company is expected. She can set the nicest table, make the lichtest biscuits, and bake chicken pie ft for the queen's own eatint It requires but little tact te got her started on her favorite theme, #soaf Car lina' and slavery time, of which she never fires. am amanuensis for Aunt and havine finished a letter to one of her numerous relations in "Nonf Carlina."* grotied, "Where did you way you were raised.

Aunt Wee born and bred in Anderson connty. Nouf Carline, an' honey, I tell you den's nice folks dat lib out dar: da is all rich. Dar ain't no poor white trash out dar, and sich things as sellin' butter. milk and turnip ereens I neber heard of till cam to die country. You may laf.

chile, but dat is God's truth. Honey, my ole master didn't know his own niggers he had many: dare was more'n two hundred able bodied, men and wimin at de quartah. 'aides de undergroth." "Did you stay at the quarter, Aunt Rose "You shotly ain't ewine to ax mo dat. Lord. chile, was at the head 6b dat whole toted de keys and gib out de visions to dem niggers to cook.

was de mammy, de black mam: my: dem chilen was de same as mine. fed 'em out en die ole monf. larn't how to talk, washed and dressed 'em ebery day de Lord sint: and combed da putty little hende, and tanght 'em to he nice an' mannerly. Da #ho* WEe nice an' honey, da neber gib mammy word of sass in da libes: and al'es an' nice." "Aunt Rose, were you the only one that staged at the Why. chile, FoR don't know nufin' bout dem times: dare was de cook.

tant cook, chambermaid, master's body servant, a maid fur mistis, two or three gals 'round *bout de house, an' no end ob little nieger boys runnin' "round after the white boys huntin' stablemen, woodsmen. an' karage driver mischief, an' den dare was de gardener, an* two maids dat 'tended to de milk and butter. Da was all house niggers, much higher quality den de quartah nigger, but Saturday night all de nigers had passes, an went unmolested frum one plantation to tother. My young tis rit many a pass, sayin'. 'Let Rose pass and repass 10 o'clock Saturday night.' but you let de patrole ketch dat nicer dout a pass, an' he wud ketch it shore.' Aunt Rose ant with folded arms "But them jubiless, honey, we had swayed her grizzled head.

and said: on Saturday night! kin hear dat banjo tum, an' de bones in Sambo's hand, rickety-elick. an' Uncle Dan, he drawed his bow cross dem fiddles strings, jintlemen! son neber seed sich shuttin' as dem niggers had; de prompter wad call, bow to de ladies, right hands 'cross, balance all. den sich cuttin' ob pigeon wings an' scratchin' grabble you neber seed." *Aunt Rose. did you not dance, too, when you was young?" "Now an' you is talkin': dat I did, honey, many many is de time I danced wid glass ob water on my head an' neber spilt drap. WIs as likely as you eber sot eyes on, an' nun young of dem niggers could hold a light to Rose in dem days, an' I couldn't begin to tole you de number dat was sparkin' arter Rose.

I WIs de bell ob dat whole plantation, an' toted a married high head, an' honey, when inammy hit wus jist as nice 118 white folks wedin'. Ole mistis gib any mne one ob her ole silk dresses, an' fix in her ole me up finery, an' we'ung married right in mistis parlor, an' had 88 finer wedin' supper as you eber sot down to. You ax my white folks, an' da will tell you. "On rainy days, Aunt Rose. how were the "Dare men and women employed?" wus plenty to do, honey, an' dare wus'ent no lazy, triflin' dem had days, like da is now.

Da all worked, niggers in an' plenty tete an' good warm clo's to war. On rainy days some »b de men wud KO to de corn cribs an' chuck an' shell hundreds of bushels ob corn, an' some wud make split baskets fur cottin pickin' time, an' some botum an' make chuck collars an' chers, work like dat. an' some ob all sich handy folks wud pick de kurkleburs out'en de wimin de wool. an' wash bit putty an' white to send hit to de woollen factory carded into rolls, some wus cardin' git bats to hit an spinnin' thread. an' tother wimin W119 weavin' clof thread, mendin' an' pachin' dar an' coverlids, dyin' WuS three lums runnin' night and day, fur, dat honey, plantation hit took sights of wurk to keep ob niggers in close." "Aunt Rose.

was it really true that the niggers were treated 30 the cruelly by overseers?" "Dat oberseer better not beat marster's niggers. Dat W119 marster's an' ebery one ob dem nigger property. men wus more'n any thousand dollars to marster. an' he wus keerful wid nis niggers, down to dem children, vit, an' if dare wus any beatin' to do, marster done hit hisself. Dare wus some folks dat 'bused the niggers, but dat wus 01- kommon.

dess like hit is now: dare W119 some mean niggers an' some mean white folks, an' 'stead of puttin' niggers in jail like da do now, da used de lash. but if the niggers dun like marster tole him he never sot no lashin'. Marster neber kilt his niggers up wurkin' dem nuther. He gib many a holiday, an' al'us Saturday arter dinner, an' den da went to de kommissary, all standin' in a row. while mistis set in her cher, an' two wimin delt out rashins, So much flour, meal, bacon an' 'lasses, like to Aunt Cloe's family, and Uncle Dan's family, an' to de ole ones, an' wimin wid children, so much sugar, an' coffee, an' dem niggers knowed better'n to be *stravagant wid da 'visions, fur da.knowed da #uts't git EEL! cum 46418. did the 460 that Bad babies sinall drea darlin'. das was ent 10 feched de babies and chiles lane sones mate dat crannice Work fed an' an wad til dem bowls full oh potticker Frantia bred bit, and de wad 45 suckle de de Ole store BiG fetes el him BeAD chiles. when she Lad and twelve ale marefer st bef free, sober quired 68 Hut, honey, de biggest fiRe old plantation mate tripe to facture an Anguela To deta three sun dare, cookin rachine and gettin 10 start on dare dare wet he three 4 road. Da Bare ten twelve waging wit cotton and sonic wit 46 feed FOr de fare 10 market (tar he string wagine half mite WAR wags drapped bet heart, when old come back a to what he back wid him.

Anery fur mistie 4R de gale. brung 616 a nice calico Tress Fur never fuck 4 dress alike. Great sacks kite mackerel, an' cherr thing dat was god to E ole marster back en dem A dat komissary wus filed to top wit visions dat tasted frame one year Tother.* A tase gathered the of her apron and wipet the fears her withered cheeks as she focalled 15. a if and wealth of slavery time, and her voice grew 44 she *Dem wer good ole time#. mammy a wanted fur now man? de time mammy ain't Cot to cat.

An' dun no de mouffe! is ewine to cam frame prays keeps Well. darlin' times You sho is a god white gal, an' when you want any thing done, alet hollow cross de palling an' mammy will come."

 Tupelo, Miss.. August 1893

 October 1, 2003

Man, I wanna tell ya, to talk to Janet Ray and hear her tell you that the FEDERAL GOVERNMENT came to her family and said that her Daddy had gone to work for a bunch of rich Cubans as as a mercenery and got killed, so tough luck- just kills my soul cause I remember everbody in my neighborhood in Dothan talking about how we had lost men at Bay of Pigs and NOBODY WAS TALKING ABOUT IT !!!! Now that's a Hell of a burden but think about what poor Janet has been through with her own government lying about the death of her Daddy!!!!
WE CAN FORGIVE BUT WE WILL NEVER FORGET!!!!

Dear Sir:
My name is Robert Register. I grew up near Fort Rucker but now I live in Northport across the river from Tuscaloosa.I am helping Janet Ray Weinenger piece together details of her time around Fort Rucker.
(Andy Garcia (Godfather III, Ocean's Eleven) is interested in this story.)
In January of '61, Janet Ray was 6 years old and was living near Dothan. We think she was living in Ozark. She may have been living in Dothan. Her Daddy was named Thomas Willard "Pete" Ray. He was from the B'ham area and a member of the Alabama Air National Guard. He was training at Ft. Rucker. Janet was in the 1st grade but she doesn't remember the school. She remembers that she was living by an overgrown Negro cemetery and that she saw a burial and lots of blackberries were growing there. Her Dad was given a special mission in January '61 and her family moved back to Tarrant to live with her grandmother.Her father was murdered in cold blood by Castro's troops in April of '61 at the Bay of Pigs.The U.S. government covered up Pete's death.
In 1978, Janet's work paid off and she was able to get her father's frozen body out of a Havana morgue. Pete crashed an old WWII B-26 at the Bay of Pigs in April of '61 and while he was strapped in his cockpit, one of Castro's troops walked up and blew his brains out. The CIA would not tell Janet's family what happened but they began sending them checks. Fidel froze Pete's body in order to prove that the CIA backed the Bay of Pigs invasion. Janet ,singlehandedly, finally got her Daddy's body back here in '78 and the FBI found the powder burns on his temple during the autopsy and her family was able to bury him here in Alabama.
The BBC has recently interviewed Janet about the "Kennedy Legacy" since the 40th anniversary of his assassination is coming up and if they air anything she said, I'll be surprised.

Talking to Janet has really helped me because the first person to walk up to me in the halls of Young Junior in Dothan on the afternoon of Friday, Novermber 22, 1963 and tell me Kennedy was dead was Pat Roney. He was celebrating. All the teachers, especially Mrs. Elmore were crying, so I have been bothered by this all these years. It makes sense now. Pat's Daddy, Jack, worked for the Alabama Air National Guard at the old Dothan airport and the Kennedy brothers had denied air support for the Bay of Pigs invasion(four members of the Alabama Air National Guard were killed) and after that the Kennedys hid the information from the families here in Alabama because they had a hissy fit cause they were afraid they'd have another U-2/Francis Gary Powers on their hands.
Please feel free to forward this email to anyone.
Anyway, we need to find out where the Ray family was living in January '61 and where Janet was going to school. I know you will do everything you can do to help. Check out my weblog at
http://www.robertoreg.blogspot.com
Don't have Janet's web address right off the bat but I think it's
at http://www.wingsofvalor.com

Best wishes,
Robert Register

[ Thu Aug 07, 05:38:12 PM | robert register | edit ]
This is so wild! Tony Delacova sends me this information about Pete Ray's daughter. I look up her website, find an article about recovering Bay of Pigs veterans bodies from Nicaragua and find Lino Gutierrez in the article! Lino was ambassador to Nicaragua when Janet Ray Weininger put together the team that excavated the bodies of two Cuban exile pilots of a B-26 that crashed on a Nicaraguan mountaintop after the Bay of Pigs invasion. I knew Lino when he was a student at the University of Alabama. The reason I got to know him so well is because I taught Biology at Druid High School in Tuscaloosa with his mother, our Spanish teacher.
If this story doesn't bring a tear to your eye, you don't have an idea about the horrors of communism.

Janet eventually received the information about her Ozark elementary school and her neighborhood.

On the Trail of the Truth / NewsweekMay 6, 1998
On the Trail of the Truth One woman's mission to find out about her father forces the CIA to come clean about the Bay of Pigs
by Evan Thomas, Newsweek

On the wall in the lobby of CIA headquarters in Langley, Va., are 71 stars, one for every CIA officer killed in action. Many of the stars are anonymous, because the CIA does not want to reveal the secret identities and missions of its spies. Next week, however, the names of four American pilots who died at the Bay of Pigs, the CIA's greatest fiasco, will be entered in a "Book of Honor" in a glass case below the stars. The CIA's willingness to pay public homage to these men, 37 years after they died, is largely owed to the obsession of a Florida housewife named Janet Ray Weininger.

Janet's father, Thomas Willard (Pete) Ray, was an Alabama Air Guard pilot recruited by the CIA for the invasion of Cuba in April 1961. Ray was only supposed to train Cuban emigres to fly old B-26s. But by the second day of the invasion, some of the Cubans were too exhausted and fearful to fly anymore, so Ray volunteered. Shot down over Cuba, Ray survived the crash but was gunned down
fleeing the plane.Janet Ray, 6, was told none of the facts about her father's death. "He just disappeared from the face of the earth," she recalled. The CIA fed her family a cover story: that Ray had been a mercenary hired by wealthy Cubans and had drowned when his plane crashed in the sea. Carrying an impression of her father's teeth, Janet began seeking out her father's old friends and comrades. In Miami's Little Havana, she handed out scraps of paper with her father's name on them, hoping to unearth some clue. The U.S. government was of little use: the CIA did not acknowledge that Ray had been on its payroll until 1972. Ray had long heard rumors that her father had been captured at the Bay of Pigs.

So she began writing Fidel Castro. The Cuban government wrote back: her father's body had been kept in a refrigerator in Havana. (When the United States denied any involvement in the Bay of Pigs in 1961, Castro had threatened to bring the body of an unidentified American pilot and lay it on a table at the United Nations.) With some belated help from the State Department, Janet--now married to an Air Force pilot named Michael Weininger--was able to bring her father's body back for a proper burial in 1979.

With an open face and a cheerful manner, Janet Ray Weininger had by now become a well-liked figure in the exile community in Little Havana. About five years ago, she was approached by the families of a pair of Cuban pilots who had also been killed at the Bay of Pigs. Could Weininger help bring their bodies back? The men had died when their B-26 plunged into a mountainside while returning to the CIA's secret base in Nicaragua after a mission over Cuba. When the CIA would not reveal the crash site, Weininger vowed to find it herself. In 1995, traveling by mule with a former Nicaraguan contra fighter, Weininger located the wreckage of the plane--but no bodies--near a remote village. During the cold war, the CIA was notorious for abandoning native "freedom fighters." This time, when Weininger asked the CIA for help in finding the bodies of the Cuban pilots, a team from the Central Identification Laboratory in Hawaii was dispatched to Nicaragua in four Blackhawks with an armed guard. She went into the jungle with them. In early April, after a month of digging, the team located the bones of two men believed to be the Cuban pilots. When the time came to leave, Weininger was overcome by emotion. One of the Nicaraguans took
her arm and said to her in Spanish, "Valor"--courage. She climbed onto the helicopter and tried not to look back.

 CITY OF TUSKALOOSA WOOD HEN (Pileated Woodpecker)