partin'-plank

Updated: May 7, 2025

Mean an' sneakin' a nigger as ebber libbed, but I didn' know it den; an', anyway, he war John Brown's fader, an' powerful han'some; an' dat do count for sumfin'. When dey sole me away from him I jus' t'ought I should die. Dey let me take my baby wid me down to de partin'-plank dat's what dey called de gangway dey t'row out from de steamboat but dar de gals had to bid good-bye to all dar fren's.

Various - Lippincott's Magazine, Vol. 20, August 1877