Interviewer’s Comment

This woman lives with her daughter Angelina Moore who owns her home.

Mother and daughter both attend government school.  Both were neatly dressed.  The day was warm so we sat on the front porch during the interview.

Personal History of Informant

1.  Ancestry—­Grandfather, Ned Peeples; grandmother, Sally Peeples; Mother, Dorcas Peeples; Father, Josh Allen.

2.  Place and date of birth—­On Saline River, Selma, Arkansas.  No date.

3.  Family—­Two daughters and granddaughter.

4.  Places lived in, with dates—­Desha County, Walnut Lake, Noble Lake, (Arkansas) Poplar Bluff, Missouri.  No dates.

5.  Education, with dates—­Three days, “after freedom”.  Attends government school now.

6.  Occupations and accomplishments, with dates—­Farmwork, cooking, laundry work until 1936.

7.  Special skills and interests—­Cooking.

8.  Community and religious activities—­Member of Palestine Baptist Church.

9.  Description of informant—­Medium height, plump, light complexion and gray hair.

10.  Other points gained in interview—­Injured in auto wreck seven years ago.

Interviewer:  Miss Irene Robertson
Person interviewed:  Roberta Shaver, West Memphis, Arkansas
Age:  50

“I was born close to Natchez, Mississippi.  Grandma was sold at Wickerson County, Mississippi.  They took her in a wagon to Jackson, Tennessee.  She was mother of two children.  They took them.  She was part Indian.  She was a farm woman.  Her name was Dicy Jackson.  They sold her away from the Jacksons to Dobbins.  She was a house woman in Jackson, Tennessee.  She said they was good to her in Tennessee.  Grandma never was hit a lick in slavery.  Grandpa was whooped a time or two.  He run off to the woods for weeks and come back starved.  He tended to the stock and drove Master Clayton around.  He was carriage driver when they wanted to go places.

“After freedom grandma set out to get back to grandpa.  Walked and rode too I reckon.  She brought her children back.  After a absence of five years she and grandpa went back together.  They met at Natchez, Mississippi.  Mama was born after freedom.

“The way grandma said she was sold was, a strange man come there one day and the master had certain ones he would sell stand in a line and this strange man picked out the ones he wanted and had them get their belongings and put them in the wagon and took them on off.  She never seen grandpa for five years.”

Interviewer:  Mrs. Bernice Bowden
Person interviewed:  Mary Shaw
                    1118 Palm Street, Pine Bluff, Arkansas
Age:  77
Occupation:  Laundry work

“I was born in Bolivar County, Mississippi.  My mother didn’t know how old I was but after freedom I went by Miss Ann Blanchet’s—­that was my mother’s old missis—­and she said I was born in 1861.