Slave Houses

“I have seen some old log houses that they said the slaves used to live in.  I was too young to notice before freedom.  I have seen different specimens of houses that they lived in.  One log house had a plank house builded on to the end of it.  The log end was the one lived in during slavery times and the plank end was built since.  That gal there of mine was born in the log end.  There were round log houses and sawed log houses.  The sawed log houses was built out of logs that had been squared after the tree had been cut down, and the round log houses was built out of logs left just like they was when they was trees.  There’s been quite an improvement in the houses since I was a kid.

Food

“I have heard my father and mother talking among themselves and their friends, but they never did tell me nothing about slave times.  They never did sit down and talk to me about it.  When they’d sit down and start talkin’, it would always be, ’Now you children run on out and play while we old folks sit here and talk.’  But from time to time, I would be sitting on the floor playing by myself and they would be talking ’mongst themselves and I would hear them say this or that.  But I never heered them say what they et in slave times.

Work

“My father worked in the juniper swamp in North Carolina, like I told you.  I think I heard my mother say she cooked.  Most I ever heard them say was when they would get with some one else and each would talk about his master.

Cruelties

“I heard my mother say that her mistress used to take a fork and stick it in her head—­jog it up and down against her head.  I don’t know how hard she punched her.  My mother was very gray—­all her hair was gray and she wasn’t old enough for that.  I reckon that was why.

How Freedom Came

“I don’t remember how freedom came.  They were refugeed—­I call it that—­my father and mother were.  My sister was born in Texas, and they were back in Arkansas again when I was born.  I was born and raised right here in Arkansas.  They were running from one place to the other to keep the Yankees from freeing the slaves.  I never even heard them say where they were freed.  I don’t know whether it was here or in Texas.

Right After the War

“I have no knowledge of what they did right after the War.  The first thing I remember was that they were picking cotton in Pine Bluff or near there.  It was a smoky log house I had to stay in while they were out in the field and the smoke used to hurt my eyes awful.

Ku Klux and Patrollers

“I don’t remember nothing about the Ku Klux.  I heard old folks say they used to have passes to keep the pateroles from bothering them.  I remember that they said the pateroles would whip them if they would catch them out without a pass.  When I first heard of the Ku Klux Klan, I thought that it was some kind of beast the folks was talking about.  I didn’t hear nothing special they did.