When I was a ‘kid’ I wore nothing but a ‘three cornered rag’ and my mother made all my clothes as I grew older.  No, the slaves never knew what underwear was.

We didn’t have any clocks to go by; we just went to work when it was light enough and quit when it was too dark to see.  When any slaves took sick they called in a nigger mammy who used roots and herbs, that is, unless they were bad sick, then the overseer would call a regular doctor.

When some slave died no one quit work except relatives and they stopped just long enough to go to the funeral.  The coffins were made on the plantation, these were just rough pine board boxes, and the bodies were buried in the grave yard on the plantation.

The overseer on the Jefferson plantation, so my father told me, would not allow the slaves to pray and I never saw a bible until after I came north.  This overseer was not a religious man and would whip a slave if he found him praying.

The slaves were allowed to sing and dance but were not allowed to play games, but we did play marbles and cards on the quiet.  If we wandered too far from the plantation we were chased and when they caught us they put us in the stockade.  Some of the slaves escaped and as soon as the overseer found this out they would turn the blood hounds loose.  If they caught any runaway slaves they would whip them and then sell them, they would never keep a slave who tried to run away.”

NOTE:  Mr. Williams and his wife are supported by the Old Age Pension.  Interviewed by Chas. McCullough.