“Be fust work I did after de War was for Mr. Bob McDaniel who lived near Waverly on de Tombigbee River.  Yes ma’am, I knowed de Lees, an’ de Joiners, but on de river den an’ long afte’, an’ worked for ’em lots in Clay County.”

Anna Baker, Ex-slave, Monroe County
FEC
Mrs. Richard Kolb
Rewrite, Pauline Loveless
Edited, Clara E. Stokes

Anna baker
Aberdeen, Mississippi

Anna Baker, 80-year old ex-slave, is tall and well built.  She is what the Negroes term a “high brown.”  Her high forehead and prominent cheek bones indicate that there is a strain of other than the pure African in her blood.  She is in fair health.

“Lemme see how old I is.  Well, I tells you jus’ lak I tol’ dat Home Loan man what was here las’ week.  I ’members a pow’ful lot ’bout slavery times an’ ’bout ’fore surrender.  I know I was a right smart size den, so’s ‘cording to dat I mus’ be ‘roun’ ‘bout eighty year old.  I aint sho’ ‘bout dat an’ I don’t want to tell no untruth.  I know I was right smart size ‘fore de surrender, as I was a-sayin’, ’cause I ’members Marster comin’ down de road past de house.  When I’d see ’im ’way off I’d run to de gate an’ start singin’ dis song to ’im: 

  ’Here come de marster, root toot too! 
  Here come Marster, comin’ my way! 
  Howdy, Marster, howdy do! 
  What you gwine a-bring from town today?’

Dat would mos’ nigh tickle him to death an’ he’d say, ’Loosahna (dat was his pet name for me) what you want today?  I’d say, ’Bring me some goobers, or a doll, or some stick candy, or anything.  An’ you can bet yo’ bottom doller he’d always bring me somp’n’.

“One reason Marse Morgan thought so much o’ me, dey say I was a right peart young’n’ an’ caught on to anything pretty quick.  Marster would tell me, ‘Loosanna, if you keep yo’ ears open an’ tell me what de darkies talk ‘bout, dey’ll be somp’n’ good in it for you.’ (He meant for me to listen when dey’d talk ‘bout runnin’ off an’ such.) I’d stay ‘roun’ de old folks an’ make lak I was a-playin’.  All de time I’d be a-listenin’.  Den I’d go an’ tell Marster what I hear’d.  But all de time I mus’ a-had a right smart mind, ’cause I’d play ‘roun’ de white folks an’ hear what dey’d say an’ den go tell de Niggers.—­Don’t guess de marster ever thought ‘bout me doin’ dat.

“I was born an’ bred ’bout seven miles from Tuscaloosa, Alabama.  I was de baby of de fam’ly.  De house was on de right han’ side o’ de road to town.  I had four sisters an’ one brother dat I knows of.  Dey was named Classie, Jennie, Florence, Allie, an’ George.  My name was Joanna, but dey done drap de Jo part a long time ago.

“I don’t recollec’ what my ma’s mammy an’ pappy was named, but I know dat her pappy was a full blooded Injun. (I guess dat is where I gits my brown color.) Her mammy was a full blooded African though, a great big woman.