A Lone Nigger

A freedman explains his solitude in the world much to the confusion of the white man who found him wandering the street, but the freedman insists that he is “nothin’ but Sam.”

A Lone Nigger
Amusing Wartime Incident Which Followed the Freeing of the Slaves
During the late war, while the federals under COl. (afterwards Gen.) Powell Clayton were garrisoned at Pine Bluff, Ark., a ragged looking “contraband” came into the lines, when the officer of the day requested him to give an account of himself, says the American Tribune. The following colloquy ensued:
“What's your name?”
“My name’s Sam.”
“Same waht?”
“No, sah; not Sam Watt; It's just Sam.”
“What’s your other name?”
“I’s got no other name, sah; I’s Sam, dat’s all.”
“What’s your master's name?”
“I’s got no massa. Massa runned away when Lincum men cum, yah! Yah! It's free nigger now.”
“Now, what’s your father and mother’s name?”
“I’s got none, sah; nebber has none It's jest Same-- ain’t nobody else.”
“Haven’t you any brothers and sisters, Sam?”
“No, seh! Nebber has none, I told you. No brudder, no sister, no fadder, no mudda, no massa- nothin’ but Sam. When you see me, boss, you see all dere is of us.”

“A Lone Nigger,” Black Virginia: The Richmond Planet, 1894-1909, accessed February 15, 2026, https://blackvirginia.richmond.edu/items/show/415.