Telling old stories as new ...

Cooking pot over coals.

Afro Texan Meals of the enslaved.

Afro-Texans described in great detail how they prepared their food. Corn became hominy, corn dodgers (formed into pones by the fingers of the cook), fried corn, roasting ears, hoecakes and ashcakes—corn mush formed into thick patties and wrapped in a collard or corn shuck leaf, corn meal dumplings, hush puppies, crackling bread, and coosh-coosh—a corn mush dish of Senegambian origin eaten with milk or syrup—or kush—a cornbread scramble made with onions, salt, and red peppers. 

Corn cobs were added to green wood to smoke meat, and parched grains of corn or toasted corn meal were used to make ersatz coffee. Rice could accompany fish dishes, and stews. Wheat, a common plantation crop, rarely found its way into the homes of the enslaved as a staple. Many formerly enslaved Texans reported having a special biscuit a week—strictly on Sundays, and only rarely did they taste waffles (which required a special mold), pancakes, white bread and other delicacies usually reserved for the slave owner’s table. Some of this wheat flour became a special dessert dumpling, boiled in reduced mustang or muscadine grape juice in the manner of the Cherokees, Creeks and Choctaw. - anon

house of Iyonna Brown's grandfather born 1895 died 1985.

This is a piece of my history.

"...my grandparents home.. he raised 10 children here..no running water.. there is a outhouse in the back.. there use to be an old swing on the porch...no glass windows.. just wooden pull to. The kitchen was off the back porch....they drew water from the well out back...

My grandfather came to Quitman as a railroad man and met my grandmother at her sister's boarding house. my grandfather was born in 1895 and died on 1985. Before he died.. he was honored as the oldest in his church. With the most grandkids, great grandkids and great-great grandkids.....

my dad was the 7th child.. and there are 14 of us.. and all his other siblings had more than 5 children....." ~ Iyonna Brown