“I ’member one time de Yankees camped right in de front yard.  Dey took all de meat out’n de curin’ house.  Well sir!  I done ’cide by myse’f dat no Yankee gwina eat all us meat.  So dat night I slips in dey camp; I stole back dat meat from dem thievin’ sojers an’ hid it, good.  Ho!  Ho!  Ho!  But dey never did fin’ dat meat.

“One time us sot fire to a bridge de Yankees had to cross to git to de plantation.  Dey had to camp on de other side, ’cause dey was too lazy to put out de fire.  Dat’s jus’ lak I figgered it.

“When de war was over my mammy an’ pappy an’ us five chillun travelled here to Port Gibson to live.  My mammy hired out for washin’.  I don’t know zackly what my pappy done.

“Lincoln was de man dat sot us free.  I don’t recollec’ much ’bout ’im ‘ceptin’ what I hear’d in de Big House ‘bout Lincoln doin’ dis an’ Lincoln doin’ dat.

“Lawdy!  I sho’ was happy when I was a slave.

“De Niggers today is de same as dey always was, ‘ceptin’ dey’s gittin’ more money to spen’.  Dey aint got nobody to make’ em’ ’have deyse’ves an’ keep ’em out o’ trouble, now.

“I lives here in Port Gibson an’ does mos’ ever’ kin’ o’ work.  I tries to live right by ever’body, but I ’spect I won’t be here much longer.

“I’se been married three times.

“When de time comes to go I hopes to be ready.  De Lawd God Almighty takes good care o’ his chillun if dey be’s good an’ holy.”

Dora Franks, Ex-Slave, Monroe County
FEC
Mrs. Richard Kolb
Rewrite, Pauline Loveless
Edited, Clara E. Stokes

Dora Franks
Aberdeen, Mississippi

Dora Franks, ex-slave, lives at Aberdeen, Monroe County.  She is about five feet tall and weighs 100 pounds.  Her hair is inclined to be curly rather than kinky.  She is very active and does most of her own work.

“I was born in Choctaw County, but I never knowed zackly how old I was, ‘cause none o’ my folks could read an’ write.  I reckon I be’s ’bout a hund’ed, ‘cause I was a big girl long time fo’ Surrender.  I was old ’nough to marry two years after dat.

“My mammy come from Virginny.  Her name was Harriet Brewer.  My daddy was my young Marster.  His name was Marster George Brewer an’ my mammy always tol’ me dat I was his’n.  I knew dat dere was some dif’ence ‘tween me an’ de res’ o’ her chillun, ‘cause dey was all coal black, an’ I was even lighter dan I is now.  Lawd, it’s bean to my sorrow many a time, ’cause de chillun used to chase me ‘round an’ holler at me, ’Old yallow Nigger.’  Dey didn’ treat me good, neither.

“I stayed in de house mos’ o’ de time wid Miss Emmaline.  Miss Emmaline’s hair was dat white, den.  I loved her’ cause she was so good to me.  She taught me how to weave an’ spin.  ’Fore I was bigger’n a minute I could do things dat lots o’ de old han’s couldn’ come nigh doin’.  She an’ Marse Bill had ‘bout eight chillun, but mos’ of ’em was grown when I come ‘long.  Dey was all mighty good to me an’ wouldn’ ’low nobody to hurt me.