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West Memphis
Age 71
"I was born at Lake Providence, Louisiana second year after the War. Mother's mother was left in Jackson,
Tennessee. Mother was sold at Vicksburg, Mississippi. Father's mother was left at Pittsburg, Virginia. Father was
brought to Lake Providence and sold to Master Ross and Mr. Coleman was his overseer. He was stripped start
naked and put up on the block. That was Nigger Traders Rule, he said. He was black as men get to be. Mother was
three-fourths white. Her master was her father. He had two families. They was raised up in the same house with his
white family. Master's white wife raised her and kept her till her death. He was dead I think.
"Then her young white master sold her. He sold his half-sister. She met my father at Vicksburg, Mississippi where
he mustered out. She was chambermaid when the surrender came on, on the Gray Eagle boat from Vicksburg to
Memphis. Mother died when I was nine years old. Papa had no boys, only three girls. I was his 'Tom Boy.' I did the
milking and out-of-door turns. Papa was a small man. He weighed 150 pounds. He carpentered, made and mended
shoes, and was a blacksmith. We farmed and farmed. I was chambermaid in Haynes, Arkansas hotel three years. I
washed and ironed. I'm not much cook. I never was fond of cooking.
"I never voted. I'm not starting now. I'm too old.
"Times is hard. You can't get ahead no way. It keeps you hustling all the time to live. Times is going pretty fast.
In some ways times is better for some people and harder for other people.
"These young folks don't want to be advised and I don't advise them except my own children. I tell them all they
listen to. They listen now better than they did when they was younger. They are all grown.
"I don't get no help from nowhere but my children a little. I own my home."
Interviewer Pernella M. Anderson"
