House

“My mother and father lived in old weatherboard houses.  I don’t know whether all of the slaves lived in weatherboarded houses or not.  But I nursed the children and had to go from one house to the other and I know several of them lived in weatherboarded houses.  Most of the houses had two rooms.  The food that was kept by the slaves, that is the rations given them, was kept in the kitchen part of the house.

Breeding

“I don’t know of any cases where slaves were compelled to breed but I have heard of them.  I don’t know the names of the people.  Just remember hearing talk about them.

Freedom Comes

“My mother and father never found out they were free till April 1865.  Some of them were freed before then.  I don’t know how they found it out, but I heard them talking about it.

Right after Freedom

“Right after freedom, my father and mother worked right on in the same place just like they always did.  I reckon they paid them, I don’t know.  They did what they wanted to.

Patrollers, Ku Klux, and Reconstruction

“I remember the Ku Klux.  They used to come and whip the niggers that didn’t have a pass.  I think them was pateroles though.  There was some people too who used to steal slaves if they found them away from home, and then they would sell them.  I don’t know what they called them.  I just remember the Ku Klux and the pateroles.

“The Ku Klux were the ones that whipped the niggers that they caught out without a pass.  I don’t remember any Ku Klux whipping niggers after the War because they were in politics.

Voters and Officeholders

“I have heard of Negroes voting and holding office after the War.  I wasn’t acquainted with any of them except a man named Kane Gibbs and another named Cicero Barnes.  I heard the old people talking about them.  I don’t know what offices they held.  They lived in another county somewhere.

Life Since Emancipation

“I went from North Carolina to Louisiana, and from Louisiana here.  They had it that you could shake trees out in Louisiana and the money would fall off.  They had some good land out there too.  One acre would make all you wanted—­corn or anything else.  That was a rich land.  But I don’t know—­I don’t care what you had or what you owned when you left there, you had to leave it there.  Never would give you no direct settlement or pay you anything; that is, pay you anything definite.  Just gave you something from time to time.  Whatever you had you had to leave it there.

Occupational Experiences