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	Iixt~erviewer	~
	Person inter~riewed	Ella Johnson
	~ Vfi~e~ ~Ii~ ~
Age  About 85
__s___.~—, .— .—— a-u *




—	~ — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — ~ — — UI v~as born 5~n Helena., Arkansas~ Nat exaot]~y in the tacvn but in hard]y

not more than three blocks from the town. Have you heard about the Gris— soins down there? Well, themi is xir~r white folks. ~r maiden name was Burke.

But we never oafled ourselves anar X3~ij~ ‘cept Grissoen.

	t‘~r mother‘ s name was Sylvia Grisson. Her husband was named Jack Burkes. He went to the Civil War. That ~was a long time ago. ‘When they got up the war, they sold out a lot of the colored folks~ But they didn‘t get a chance to soll xi~r mother. She left. They tell me one of thera Grisscn boys has been down here looking for me. He didn‘t find me and he went on back.

	“w another‘s mistress was named Sylvia Grissom boo. All of us was named after the white folks. All the old folks is dead, but the young ones is living. I think . n~r mother‘ s it~.ster was named John. The~r had so n~ai~r oi~ thœi that I forgit which is whiob.. But the~r had all n~&s ohildren named aTher th&n, 1~r mother had three girls and three bo~ys.

	“mien the war began and nr father went to war, 11~ mother left Helena and ceme here~ She run off frcmi the Grissœas. They whipped her too much, those white folks did. She got tired of all that beating. She took all of us with her. All six of us children were born before the war. I was the fourbh.

	“Thére is a place down here where the white folks used to whip and hang the niggers. Baskin Lake they call it. Mother got that far.
7‘?