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819 N. Spruce Street, Pine Bluff, Arkansas
Age 75
"I was seventy-four this last past fourth of July. I was born in Texas. My mother was sent to Texas to keep from
bein' freed.
"Ad March and Spruce McCrary is the onliest white folks I remember bein' with. I don't know whether they was our
owners or not.
"My father was sent to North Carolina and I never did see him no more.
"After freedom they brought us back here from Texas and we worked on the McCrary plantation.
"In slavery days mama said she and my father stayed in the woods most of the time. That's when they was whippin'
'em.
"My mother come from Richmond, Virginia. Petersburg was her town. She belonged to the Wellses over there.
"After her master got his leg broke, the rest was so mean to her she run off a couple times, so they sold her. Put her
up on the tradin' block--like goin' to make a speech. Stripped 'em naked. The man bid 'em off like you'd bid off
oxen.
"Mama told me her missis, after her husband died, got so mean to her she run off till her old missis sold her. They
weighed 'em and stripped 'em naked to see if they was anything wrong with 'em and how they was built and then bid
'em off.
"Mama said she never would a been in Arkansas if they hadn't been se mean to her. They were too compulsive on
'em--you know, hard taskmasters.
"After freedom Ad March went back to North Carolina and Spruce McCrary come here to Pine Bluff.
"Fust time I moved here in town was in 1888. I stayed ten months, then I went back to the country. I aimed to go to
Fort Smith but I got to talkin' with my playmates and I didn't have too much money, and I stayed till I didn't have
enough money left to keep me till I could get a job. So I stayed here and worked for Mrs. Freemeyer till I got so I
couldn't work. She's the one got me on this relief.
"I went to school one session in 1886. Sem Caeser, he was a well-known teacher. He got killed here in Pine Bluff.
"I can't sweep and I can't iron. I got a misery in my back. I washes my clothes and spreads 'em out till they dry.
Then I puts 'em on and switches into church and ever'body thinks they has been ironed.
"They ain't but one sign I believes in and that's peckerwoods. Just as sure as he pecks three times, somebody goin' to
move or somebody goin' to die. Just as sure as you live somebody goin' out.
"One time one of my grandchildren and a friend of mine was walkin' through the woods and we missed the main
road we aimed to ketch, and we got into a den of wild hogs. I said, 'Lord, make 'em stand still till we get out of
here.' One of 'em was that tall and big long ears hung down over his eyes. That was the male, you know. I reckon
they couldn't see us and we walked as easy as we could and we got away and struck the main road. I reckon if they
could a seen us we would a been 'tacked but we got away. I had heard how they made people take to trees, and I
was scared.
"Have you ever seen a three-legged cow? Well, I have. I looked at her good. She was grown and had a calf."
Interviewer Samuel S. Taylor"
