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(Opelika, Lee County, Alabama, Mrs. Preston Kline)
Emma Jones, eighty-three years old, was born in the Chattahoochee between West Point and Columbus Georgia. She is very alert though deaf.
"White folks," she began, "I belonged to Marse Wiley Jones and Mistis Melba. I lived in a little two-room log cabin with high tester beds wid matreses filled with cawn shucks. Our food den was away better dan de stuff we eats today. It was cooked on a fireplace made outen rocks and hooks fastened into de side to swing de pots aroun' on. Us made ash-cakes on a three-legged skillet dat sot ober hot coals an' us cooked in de oven for to bake meat an' cawn bread in. Dere ain't nothin' lak dem deys, no'm.
"Ole Massa had a big garden an' we useta git de vega'bles we et from de garden. De folks was plenty good to us. Sometimes de mens would possums an' rabbits an' wild turkeys, We sho' loved dem 'possums cooked in 'taters.
"An' talkin' 'bout medicines. Let me tell you a sho' 'nough cure for a baby dats havin' a hard time teethin'. Jus' putt a string of coppers on de neck an' he won't have no trouble at all. Us useta do dat to de white chilluns an' de black uns to; 'specially in hot weather when dey seem to have de misery.
"Atter us got to be big gals, us wo' cotton dresses an' drawses in summer, an' when it git col' we had to wear long drawses an' homespun dresses an' hore-knitted socks and shoes dat de cobbler made in his shop you know, white folks, we useta make near 'bout eve'ything dat you need to run a body raght on our plantation. Us had eve'ything. We made gingham an' calico dresses an' I ma'ied in a Swiss dress.
"I worked as a house gal an' when Miss Sarah ma'ied I went with her to nuss her chilluns. Besides Miss Sarah dere was Mista Billy, Mista Brick, Miss Lucy and Miss Emma. Dey had two uncles an' a Aunt of deres lived dere too.
"We had a happy fambly. At night some of de house niggers would gather 'roun' de fire, an' mistis would read us de scriptures, an' de white chilluns git tired an' slip out de do' but us little niggers couldn't 'ford to do dat; us hadda stay dere whether us liked it or not. Sometimes de massa let de niggers dance an' frolic on Saturday nights, but we warn't 'lowed to go offen de plantation, none ceptin' de ones dat had a wife or husban' on anudder plantation; den dey could only stay for short time. Sometimes us could go off to church,-an' I remembers a baptisin' in de creez. Some of dem niggers most got demselves drowned. Dey weren't used to so much water an' bey would come up outen de creez a whoopin' an' a-coughin' lak de debil had a holt of 'em. Dere was so. much shoutin' I 'spose ever'body fo'ten miles aroun' could hear dem a-carrin' on in de creek.
"Durin' de war, my mammy helped spin cotton for de soldiers' an' when de Yankees come through, us hid all de valuables in de woods. Us had to feed dem an' dere hosses too. Dey et up near 'bout everything we had on de place.
"Dere warn't no schools in dem days for us colored folks. Us learned fum de scriptures, an' by listenin' to de white folks talk."
(Wash. Copy, D.H.)
[Note: The following excerpts were taken from another interview conducted with the preceding person. All repeated information has been omitted.]
Miss Sara married Dr. Lum Davis during that time and had a big wedding of lots of good things to eat and they let the colored folks stand around and look on.
When the Master had found that they had been freed, he called all together and told them they were all free and were their own free agents. The next year her family moved to Motts Mill near Columbus, GA.
Emma had heard lots of the Ku Klux Klan but they never bothered them.
She married later and had only one child, Lottie Frederick, and is living with her now on North 10th St, Opelika, AL, and has two grandchildren living in West Point, GA, all working out. Her membership is at Cusetta, AL, with the Baptist Church at Mount Nebo.
