Her master and mistress were Mitchell and Elizabeth Simmons and they had two sons and two daughters.  They lived on a plantation about twelve miles from Farmersville, Louisiana.

Rachel was a house girl and her mother was the cook.  Besides doing house work, she was nursemaid and as she grew older did her mistress’ sewing and could also weave and knit.  From the way she smiled and rolled her eyes I could see that this was the happiest time of her life.  “My white folks was so good to me.  I sat right down to the same table after they was thru.”

While a child in the home of her white folks she played with her mistress’ children.  In her own words “My mistress give us a task to do and when we got it done, we went to our playhouse in the yard.”

When the war came along, her master was too old to go but his two sons went and both lived through the war.

Questioned about the Yankees during the war she said, “I seen right smart of the Yankees.  I seen the ‘Calvary’ go by.  They didn’t bother my white folks none.”

Rachel said the ABC’s for me but cannot read or write.  She said her mistress’ children wanted to teach her but she would rather play so grew up in ignorance.

After the war Rachel’s white folks moved to Texas and Rachel went to live with her mistress’ married daughter Martha.  For her work she was paid six dollars a month.  She was not given any money by her former owners after being freed, but was paid for her work.  Later on Rachel went to work in the field making a crop with her brother, turning it over to the owner of the land for groceries and other supplies and when the cotton was weighed “de white folks taken out part of our half.  I knowed they done it but we couldn’t do nothin bout it.”

Rachel had four husbands and eleven children.  Her second husband abandoned her, taking the three oldest and leaving five with her.  One boy and one girl were old enough to help their mother in the field and one stayed in the house with the babies, so she managed to make a living working by the day for the white people.

The only clash with the Ku Klux Klan was when they came to get an army gun her husband had bought.

Being a woman, Rachel did not know much about politics during the Reconstruction period.  She had heard the words “Democrat,” “Radical” and “Republican” and that was about all she remembered.

Concerning the younger generation Rachel said:  “I don’t know what goin’ come of ’em.  The most of ’em is on the beat” (trying to get all they can from others).

After moving to Arkansas, she made a living working in the field by the day and as she grew older, washing and ironing, sewing, housecleaning and cooking.

Her long association with white people shows in her speech which is quite plain with only a few typical Negro expressions, such as the following: 

“She died this last gone Sattiday and I hope (help) shroud her.”